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BROTHERS AND SISTERS 















































POOR LITTLE KITTY, HOW COLD SHE MUST BE ” (Page 6) 



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BROTHERS AND 
SISTERS 


ABBIE FARWELL BROWN 


ILLUSTRATED BY 

ETHEL C. BROWN 


.RftfrsiafPreagi 


BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
pre??, CambriDtje 
1 906 


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COPYRIGHT 1906 BY ABBIE FARWELL BROWN 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 


I . 


Published September iqob 


For permission to reprint the several 
chapters of this volume thanks are due to 
The Churchman^ — “ The Gaiden of Live 
Flowers,” ‘‘April Fool,” “The Dark 
Room,” “ The Pieced Baby,” “ The 
Alarm ; ” to The Congregationalist^ — 
“The Japanese Shop,” “ Brothers and Sis- 
ters ; ” to Good Housekeepings — “ Buried 
Treasure;” and to The Kindergarten 
Review^ — The Christmas Cat.” 











CONTENTS 


OHAPTER PAGE 


I. 

The Christmas Cat 

I 

II. 

The Christmas Cat’s Present 

10 

III. 

The Japanese Shop 

19 

IV. 

April Fool’s Night 

28 

V. 

The April Fool 

38 

VI. 

The April-Fool Journey 

48 

VII. 

The Dolls’ May-Party 

57 

VIII. 

The Dark Room 

66 

IX. 

The Garden of Live Flowers 

86 

X. 

Buried Treasure 

97 

XI. 

The Pieced Baby 

106 

XII. 

The Alarm 

120 

XIII. 

Brothers and Sisters 

131 

XIV. 

Tommy’s Letter 

145 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Poor little kitty, how cold she must be” {page 6 ) 

Frontispiece 

“ See what Santa has brought the Christmas cat ” i6 
The littlest baby white rabbit 24 

I am April Fool ” 40 

Kenneth found that it was a wall of glass 44 

She lifted poor Matilda and set her up on the window 

seat 64 ! 

In tiptoed a little figure 74^ 

Living flowers 92 

The sand stretched out like a great sheet of paper 98 / 

Awakened by a little silvery laugh 108 

They were Tommy and Mary Prout ^ 

What a shriek of joy went up 142 ^ 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


CHAPTER I 

THE CHRISTMAS CAT 

I T was the day before the day before Christ- 
mas, and there came a big snowstorm, 
so that Kenneth and Rose were shut up in 
the house. Now that was a very hard thing 
to bear, for as every one knows, the last two 
days before Christmas are the longest, slowest 
days in the whole year. But if one has to stay 
in the house and just think, it seems as though 
the time would never go by. 

If it had been a pleasant day they could 
have gone out of doors to skate, or to coast, or 
to play any number of jolly games which they 
now remembered sadly. Perhaps they would 
have gone to their cousin Charlie’s house, 
which was in the next block but one beyond 
theirs. Perhaps their papa would have taken 


2 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


them down town for a last look at the Christ- 
mas shops, and the wonderful toys, some of 
which they hoped Santa Claus would remem- 
ber to bring to the Thornton house. There 
were ever so many nice things which they 
could have done to make the time pass away, 
if only it had been a pleasant day. But now 
there seemed nothing in the world to do. 

Kenneth and Rose wandered dismally about 
the house. They peeped into the play-room, 
where the toys were lying about looking very 
lonely, as though they would say, — 

“ O Kenneth ! Do come and play with us. 
Please, Rosie, don’t go away and leave us all 
alone ! ” 

But Kenneth and Rose were tired of all 
the old toys, they had played with them so 
many, many times. They hoped that Santa 
would bring them some new ones on Christ- 
mas morning, if Christmas morning would 
ever, ever come ! 

In the dining-room Rose’s old doll, Matilda, 
was lying face downward on the sofa, quite 


THE CHRISTMAS CAT 


3 


heart-broken because she had been so long 
deserted. Rose looked at her, then she turned 
her back sadly. 

“ Matilda is growing very ugly,” she said. 
“No wonder she hides her facp, with only 
one eye and a broken nose. I still love her 
very much, but I do so hope that Santa will 
not forget how much I need a new dollie.” 

They went down into the kitchen, with a 
vague hope that Katie might find them some- 
thing to do. But Katie was too busy baking 
the Christmas pies and cake to bother with 
children. She would not even give them a bit 
of dough to play with. 

“ Whisht ! ” she cried, flapping a dishcloth 
at them fiercely, “ Rin out o’ me kitchen, you 
childer ! I can’t have ye fussing about here 
this day, niver a bit. Rin off an’ play some- 
wheres else, like a good little lad and lassie, 
now.” 

Run off and play ! Where should they run, 
and what should they play ? There was no 
one to help them. Papa was down town in 


4 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


spite of all the snow. Kenneth wished that 
he too was a big man who could go out of 
doors in spite of all the snow. Mamma was 
busy in the library with secrets of her own, 
and would not let them in. Rose wished that 
she too was a big lady who could have secrets 
all by herself. Then she would not mind 
however hard it might storm outside. 

Kenneth flattened his nose against one din- 
ing-room window, and Rose flattened her nose 
against the other, and they stared out at the 
snow smoothly spreading itself over every- 
thing, just as Katie was frosting the cake 
downstairs. Big drifts were piling up beyond 
the curbstones, and in the doorways opposite. 
Now and then a sleigh floundered past, the 
horses making their way with difficulty. Sup- 
posing, oh, supposing that it should storm for 
two whole days, and the snow should grow 
so deep that even Santa Claus’s reindeer could 
not get through with the gifts for their Christ- 
mas stockings ! 

Suddenly Kenneth jumped right up in the 


THE CHRISTMAS CAT 


5 


air and cried, “ Look, Rose ! ” And at the same 
moment Rose pressed her nose even flatter on 
the window and said, “ O Kenneth, what is 
it?” 

Something tiny and black was moving along 
through the snow on the sidewalk. It gave 
little hops, each time sinking down almost 
out of sight, stopping to rest between jumps 
as though it were very tired. The children 
watched it breathlessly. 

At last it came to the long flight of steps, 
which looked like a smooth toboggan-slide 
of snow. But the little black creature seemed 
to know what was underneath the cold white 
covering, for it hopped bravely up on the low- 
est step, then up and up, step by step, to the 
landing, where the snow was not so deep. And 
now the children could see it plainly. 

“Why, it ’s a poor little kitty ! ” cried Ken- 
neth, almost pushing the glass out of the win- 
dow with his small, cold nose, so eager was 
he to watch the little stranger. 

“And she has come to our ownty-donty 


6 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


steps ! ” echoed Rose. “Poor little kitty, how 
cold she must be ! ” 

Just at that moment the wet little black 
thing looked up at the window where Rose 
stood, and just as if she had heard what Rose 
said, the poor kitty answered very sadly, “ Mi- 
a-o-ow! ” 

All this time it had been snowing harder 
and harder, and already the tracks which the 
kitty had made in the snow were blotted out 
of sight. At the same moment Kenneth and 
Rose made a dash for the front door. “We 
must n’t let the poor kitty stay there,” said 
Kenneth, “ she will be all drowned in the 
snow, and frozen, too,” 

“ Y es, we must bring her in and make her 
nice and warm,” said Rose. 

So they opened the front door, and stood at 
the head of the steps calling, “Kitty, kitty!” 
very gently, while the snow whirled in about 
their ankles. 

“ Mi-a-ow 1 ” answered the black cat, but 
this time she spoke more cheerfully. “Thank 


THE CHRISTMAS CAT 


7 


you!” she seemed to say, “May I really come 
in ?” 

“ Come in,” said Kenneth. 

“ Poor kitty, do come in ! ” cried Rose, 
holding out her hand invitingly. And the 
black cat walked in. 

She was very wet and draggly, but Kenneth 
took her in his arms and carried her upstairs. 
Rose ran before, and they knocked on the 
library door, where their mamma was hidden 
with her secrets. 

“Mamma, Mammal Come here a min- 
ute!” they cried. “ Come and see what we 
have found. Come quick. Mamma ! ” 

In a minute their mamma came hurrying, 
and opened the door just a tiny little crack, 
through which she peeped at them. But when 
she saw what Kenneth had in his arms she 
came out quickly, shutting the door carefully 
behind her (to keep the Christmas secrets from 
running away, I suppose). 

“ What have you found, Kenneth ” she 
cried, holding up her hands. 


8 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


“ A kitty, a poor kitty, lost in the snow,” 
said Kenneth. 

“We had to take her in and make her warm 
and comfy at Christmas time, did n’t we. 
Mamma ? ” said Rose. 

“ Please, Mamma, you will let us keep her, 
won’t you?” they both pleaded. 

Mrs. Thornton hesitated. The cat was very 
wet and homely. She had meant to give the 
children a pretty little kitten some day. But 
just then the poor hungry animal looked up 
and gave a pitiful “ Mi-a-ow,” and Mrs. 
Thornton remembered how dreadful it was 
that any living creature should be miserable 
and cold and homeless at the happy Christ- 
mas time. 

“ Yes, you may keep her, children,” she said. 
“ Keep her and make her have a merry Christ- 
mas.” 

Kenneth and Rose took the little cat down- 
stairs and gave her a good dinner. “ But you 
shall have a better one on Christmas Day,” 
promised Kenneth. Rose found a tiny has- 


THE CHRISTMAS CAT 


9 


ket and made a bed beside the fire in the din- 
ing-room. And there the black cat slept all 
the afternoon, she was so tired, and so glad to 
rest and to be warm. Rose sat beside her, 
stroking her soft fur, and Kenneth sat at the 
other side of the fireplace trying to think up 
a good name for the new kitty, so that the 
time went before they knew it, and they had 
forgotten to wish it were Christmas day. 

“What have you named the little cat?” 
asked their papa when the children showed 
him their new pet that evening. 

“ Oh, Kenneth has thought of the loveliest 
name ! ” cried Rose, jumping up and clapping 
her hands. “We are going to call her Chris- 
tine, — because she is a little Christmas cat. 
Isn’t that a beautiful name. Papa?” 

And Papa said that he thought it was a very 
beautiful name indeed. 


CHAPTER II 


THE CHRISTMAS CAT'S PRESENT 

T he next morning when Kenneth and 
Rose awoke, it was bright and fair. The 
storm had cleared away, and the whole world 
was white and wonderful with spangled snow. 
Now the children could play out of doors as 
much as they liked, and the time went so fast 
that they almost forgot to wish Christmas 
would hurry up. Their cousin Charlie came 
over to play with them, and they built snow 
forts and snowballed one another ; they made 
big statues of snow in the back yard and shov- 
eled the sidewalks and the front steps nicely. 
Before they knew it it was evening again, — 
Christmas eve, and their mamma was invit- 
ing them to come and see her secret in the 
library. 

And what do you think the secret was.? 
When the folding doors were thrown open 


THE CHRISTMAS CAT’S PRESENT ii 


there was a glare of light and a smell of 
woodsy green, and Kenneth and Rose and 
their cousin Charlie cried “ Oh ! ” they were 
so surprised. For there stood a beautiful 
Christmas tree, glittering with spangles and 
icicles and silver balls and tiny candles. 

Kenneth and Rose and Charlie danced 
around the tree, and they had a beautiful time 
finding the little bags of candy which were 
hidden for each of them among the green 
branches. 

“It was a lovely, lovely secret,” whispered 
Rose in her mamma's ear. “ And when I grow 
up I will make one just like it for my dolls.” 

When all the candles had sputtered and 
gone out, Charlie’s papa came to take him 
home. And after that it was time to go to bed. 
But first they must hang up their stockings 
for Santa Claus to fill. They tied them up 
over the fireplace in the library, — Kenneth’s 
long black stocking and Rose’s shorter brown 
one. Then Kenneth said, — 

“ Oh, Mamma, we must hang up a stock- 


12 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


ing for Christine. I am sure Santa will want 
to remember the poor little Christmas cat.” 

“I know! ” cried Rose. “I will hang up 
one of my little summer socks. That will be 
just right for a little kitty-cat’s Christmas.” 

So she brought one of her short white socks 
and they hung it up in the chimney-place 
right between the other two stockings, — 
between Kenneth’s and Rose’s. And Christine 
looked pleased. Then everybody said good- 
night, and the children went to bed. 

It was very, very early in the morning when 
Kenneth opened his eyes and said out loud, “ It 
is Christmas Day ! Oh, at last it is Christmas 
Day 1 ” Then his eyes opened very wide indeed, 
and he said nothing at all. The bedposts 
looked so queer ! 

Kennethscrambledover and examined them. 
On each post at the foot of the bed was a big 
yellow orange. These were the first signs of 
Christmas, and they kept Kenneth busy for 
some minutes. But when he had eaten one of 
the oranges he could not wait any longer. 


THE CHRISTMAS CAT’S PRESENT 13 

He ran to Rose’s room and thumped on the 
door. “ Merry Christmas, Rose ! Wake up! ” 
he cried, poking in his head. But already Rose 
was wide awake, and was sitting up in bed 
eating one of the oranges which had grown 
on her bedposts, too, during the night. 

“ Merry Christmas yourself,” cried Rose, 
jumping out of bed. “ Let us run and wake 
up papa and mamma.” 

So they trotted down the hall to mamma’s 
room and thumped on the door. “ Merry 
Christmas, Mamma I Merry Christmas, Papa I ” 
they cried. “We are going down to look at 
our stockings and see whether or not Santa 
really did come last night.” 

Papa and mamma sighed a little, for they 
werestill very sleepy. But mamma said, “Well, 
children, you may go down. But first you 
must put on your clothes, so that you will not 
take cold. Papa and I will be there in a little 
while.” 

Kenneth was dressed first. He ran down- 
stairs to the library, and sure enough 1 there 


14 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


hung the three stockings, bulgy and knobby 
and queer. He shouted up the stairs, “ Oh, 
Rose ! Hurry, hurry ! He really came, 
Santa Claus came, and he did not forget even 
Christine,” 

In a minute down came Rose, with her 
shoes half buttoned and her curls all tangled. 
She could not wait this morning to make 
everything just right. 

They seized their stockings and sat down 
on the floor to pull out the “plums,” like 
little Jack Horner. In Kenneth’s stocking 
he found a big red apple, and a bag of lovely 
marbles. Under these was a new game in a 
box, and a horn of candy. Kenneth dived 
down lower and found a toy cart, and a top, 
and a baby camera. At last he reached the 
toe of the stocking, where there was just one 
thing left. “ I think it is a stick of candy,” 
said Kenneth. But when it came out, it was 
a jack-knife with four blades. You can im- 
agine how pleased Kenneth was. 

As for Rose, what do you suppose she 


THE CHRISTMAS CAT’S PRESENT 15 


found in her stocking ? She had a red apple, 
too, and a horn of candy. Then there was a 
cunning pocket-book, and a little coral neck- 
lace in a velvet box. There was a red rubber 
ball and a harmonica, and away down in the 
little brown toe of her stocking hid a tiny 
doll’s watch and chain. But the best gift of 
all poked its head out of the top of her 
stocking and smiled at her the very first thing. 
It was a lovely little doll, with yellow curls 
like Rose’s own, and blue eyes, and a white 
dress with blue ribbons. 

“Oh, you dear doll!” cried Rose, hugging 
her tightly. “ I knew that Santa would bring 
you to me! You are ever so much prettier 
than Matilda, and I shall call you Alice.” 

Now Papa and Mamma came down, and 
they were eager to see what was in Chris- 
tine’s stocking. “Let us take it down to 
the dining-room where Christine is,” said 
Mamma. “ Katie tells me that there are some 
queer-looking bundles there for you, which 
Santa could not crowd into your stockings.” 


i6 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

With a whoop of joy Kenneth ran down 
the stairs to the dining-room, and Rose fol- 
lowed as fast as she could, carrying the little 
white sock with the presents for the Christ- 
mas cat. She went up to the basket beside 
the fire, where Christine lay just as they had 
left her the night before. 

“ Oh, Kitty, see what Santa has brought 
you,” said Rose, holding out the little bulgy 
stocking. Then she stared hard into the 
basket where Christine lay. “Oh-h-h! Ken- 
neth!” she cried, “Come here quick! See 
what Santa has brought the Christmas cat!” 

For there, cuddled close up against Chris- 
tine’s black fur, were two tiny round things 
mewing with baby voices; one little black 
kitten, and one as yellow as Rose’s curls, both 
with their eyes shut tight. 

“ Well, well ! ” said papa. “ Santa could 
not get those into Kitty’s stocking, so he 
brought them here. Is n’t it a lovely present 
for a little Christmas cat .f ” 

“ Of course they both belong to Christine,” 



SEE WHAT SANTA HAS BROUGHT THE CHRISTMAS CAT 




















THE CHRISTMAS CAT’S PRESENT 17 

said Kenneth, “but may I not call one of 
them mine, and the other one Rose’s?” 

“I want the yellow one,” said Rose. 

“ I like the black one best,” said Kenneth, 
“so that is all right.” But Christine licked 
both the kittens with her pink tongue and 
purred happily. 

“ I like them both best, and they are both 
mine,” she seemed to say. 

Then the children took out the presents 
from the little white sock. There was a pretty 
collar and a bow of ribbon, — yellow, which 
was Christine’s most becoming color. And 
there was a little bunch of catnip instead of 
candy. Santa seemed to know just what a 
little cat would best like. But nothing seemed 
to please Christine so much as the tiny balls 
of black and yellow fur in her basket. And 
the children did not blame her. For indeed, 
of all their Christmas gifts, — except Alice, 
the new doll, and Kenneth’s jack-knife, — 
they each liked best the kitten which they 
had chosen. 


1 8 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

“ I shall call my kitten BufF,” said Rose, 
touching the little yellow ball gently. 

“ And mine shall be Fluff,” said Kenneth, 
who liked to make rhymes sometimes. “ Oh, 
I am so glad that we took Christine in out 
of the snow. Rose! For if we hadn’t, per- 
haps Santa would never have thought of 
leaving us these dear little kittens.” 

And I shouldn’t wonder if Kenneth was 
right. 


CHAPTER III 


THE JAPANESE SHOP 

O NE day, not very long after Christmas, 
Mrs. Thornton said to Rose, — 

“ Rose, dear, I am going to the Japanese 
Shop to buy a wedding present, and I think 
you would like to go, wouldn’t you ? ” 
“What is a Japanese Shop.?” asked Rose. 
“ Oh, it is a very wonderful shop,” said her 
mamma. “ I can’t begin to tell you about all 
the curious things which they sell in a Japanese 
Shop. You must come and see for yourself.” 

So Rose put on her hat and coat and went 
with her mother to the Japanese Shop. What 
a wonderful place it was, indeed ! Rose felt 
just as if she were in some strange, new kind 
of Fairyland, such as she had never before 
heard about. Everything was colored so bright 
and beautiful ! There were such queer-shaped 
things sitting about on the floor and standing 


20 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


up in the corners ! Curious lanterns swung 
from the ceiling, and tall screens of black and 
gold, with pictures of wonderful long-legged 
birds flying across, made dark nooks, in which 
strange bronze animals lurked surprisingly. 
Everything smelt sweet and rich, too, almost 
with the Christmas-tree fragrance of mamma’s 
holiday secret. 

Rose wandered about by herself while her 
mother was looking at the funny lamps hiding 
under colored umbrellas, which she called 
wedding presents, though Rose did not un- 
derstand why. They did not interest her like 
Christmas presents, which were very different. 
But over in a corner, all by itself. Rose found 
something which she thought would make 
the loveliest Christmas present, — the most 
wonderful Christmas present that any little 
girl could have. And oh ! how she wanted 
it for her very own ! 

It was a toy garden ; the kind that is put 
into the guest-room of a Japanese house to 
amuse visitors. 


THE JAPANESE SHOP 21 

My ! It was a wonderful little garden, — a 
real, truly live garden, with growing trees and 
plants and moss. But it was all so tiny that 
it could stand on a little table no wider than 
Rose’s arm was long. And though the trees 
were really, truly grown-up trees, a great deal 
older than Rose, — older even than her mam- 
ma, whom Rose thought very old indeed, — 
they were no taller than Rose’s little hand. 

This is the way the garden looked. First, 
it was almost square and there was a little stone 
wall all around it, about an inch high. In the 
middle of the garden was a hill built of rocks, 
and on the top of the hill was a lawn of green 
moss, with a tiny pagoda, or Japanese house, 
no bigger than a match-box. The sides of the 
hill sloped down, very green and smooth, and 
at the foot was a little brook of real water, 
winding around the whole garden. The tiniest 
path of sand crept zig-zag down the hill to a 
bit of a red bridge that crossed the brook, for 
the people in the house at the top of the hill 
to use. And all along the brook grew little 


22 


BROTHERS' AND SISTERS 


baby plants, and the wonderful dwarf trees 
that I told you about. Pine-trees they were, 
most of them, and the pine needles had fallen 
on the ground and had turned rusty brown, 
just as everyday pine needles do. Only these 
were ten times smaller. Rose wondered who 
lived in the little house at the top of the hill, 
and she said to herself : — 

“Oh, how I wish I were little enough to 
live in that dear little house, and play in that 
sweet little garden, and climb up into those 
darling little trees ! Oh, how I wish I could 
be littler ! ” And that was something which 
Rose had never before wished. 

Just then Rose heard a cough behind her, 
and looking around she saw that the funny 
Japanese Man who kept the store was standing 
close at her elbow. He was smiling very pleas- 
antly, so Rose said to him : — 

“ Oh, Mr. Japanese Man ! I think you can 
tell me who lives in the dear little house and 
plays in the dear little garden and paddles in 
the dear little brook. Will you, please?” 


THE JAPANESE SHOP 


23 


The Japanese Man bowed and grinned, and 
looked at Rose for a minute without saying 
anything. Then he went away to the other 
end of the store. Presently he came back, and 
he had something in his hands. He set a little 
Somebody down beside the house on the top 
of the hill; and it was a tiny little old man 
made of china-stuff, in a long green gown, 
with a knob of hair on the back of his head, 
like a lady. 

live in house, litty ol’ man,” said the 
Japanese. “ And these, his animals ; live in 
garden.” As he said this the Japanese Man 
set down on the bridge the littlest baby white 
rabbit, and in the brook a tiny-winy duck, 
which floated on the water, and under one 
of the trees a wee-wee mouse, with pink 
ears. 

“Oh!” cried Rose, clapping her hands. 
“ Oh ! how I wish I could be little enough 
to play there with them. Are they alive, Mr. 
Japanese Man ? ” 

The Man grinned more than ever. Then 


24 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

he came close up to Rose and whispered 
behind his hand, as though it were a great 
secret : — 

“ No, not alive now. But after dark, when 
moon shines, and store all empty — all big 
folks gone away — then all come alive. My 
— my ! Litty ol’ man walk down hill, go 
fishy in brook. Duck say ‘ ^ack, quack ! ’ 
Litty rabbit hop so-so over bridge. Litty 
mouse cry ^Wee, wee!' and climb up pine- 
tree. My ! Litty girl like to see?” 

“ Oh ! Have you ever seen ? ” cried Rose 
with her eyes very wide. 

But just then her mamma came back, with 
a bundle under her arm, which was probably 
a little Wedding Present, though Rose did 
not care enough about it to inquire. But 
she was very sorry when the Japanese Man 
bowed politely and walked away to the other 
end of the store. She had wanted to ask him 
a great many more questions. 

“ Come, Rose,” said her mother; “we must 
go home now.” 



THE LITTLEST BABY WHITE RABBIT 



THE JAPANESE SHOP . 25 

“O Mamma! I want it! ” sighed Rose wist- 
fully. 

“Want what? The garden? Oh, my Dear! I 
cannot buy you that,” said her mamma sadly; 
“it costs dollars and dollars. But maybe I 
could buy you the mouse, or the duck, or the 
rabbit, or the little old gentleman up there. 
Would you like one of them. Dear ? ” 

“Oh, no!” cried Rose. “It would be 
dreadful to take them away from their lovely 
garden. I wouldn’t have one of them for 
anything. Think how lonesome he would be 
when it grew dark and they all came alive ! ” 

On the way home Rose told her mamma 
the great secret, which the Japanese Man had 
told her. And her mamma thought it was all 
very strange indeed, and said she wished that 
she too was little enough to play in the won- 
derful garden with Rose and that interesting 
family. 

When they reached home Rose told Ken- 
neth all about the toy garden, and the secret 
which the Japanese Man had told her. But 


26 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


Kenneth only said, “ Pooh ! I don’t believe a 
word of it,” which was very disappointing. 
But, of course, Kenneth had not seen the 
garden, nor heard the Japanese Man tell the 
secret, which made a great difference. 

When it was dark Rose went to bed, and 
in a little while her mamma came to kiss her 
good-night. Rose held her tightly by the 
hand and made her sit down on the edge of 
the bed, where the moonlight shone like silver. 

“O Mamma ! ” she whispered. “ Think of 
the shop, all dark and empty now, with just 
one moonbeam shining on the little garden 
in the corner. And the little old man comes 
alive, pop ! like that ! Now he goes walking 
out of his house, down the little path over 
the hill. And the bunny-rabbit scampers in 
front of him, hoppity-hop ! Can’t you see him. 
Mamma? Now they come to the little bridge; 
the funny duck says ‘ ^ack, quack ! ’ and 
swims away round and round the garden. 
Now the little old man sits down under one 
of the tiny pine-trees and begins to fish in the 


THE JAPANESE SHOP 


27 


brook. And the wee-wee mouse runs up and 
down the tree and nibbles the cheese which 
the old man has in his pocket for bait. O 
Mamma, I can see it all, just as plainly ! I 
wish I were there.” 

“ I can almost see it, too,” said Mamma. 

“ O Mamma, I think I could grow little 
just as easily as they could come alive. Don’t 
you ? ” said Rose. 

Her mother answered, “ We-el, perhaps.” 

But she would never take Rose to the Jap- 
anese shop after dark, to see whether or not 
it could be done. Maybe she was afraid that 
Rose might grow little and stay little always 
— which would have been a dreadful thing 
for her mamma. But Rose thinks that she 
herself would like it very well indeed, — to 
live always in that wonderful garden with 
the mouse and the duck and the rabbit and 
the funny little old man, — if only Kenneth 
would grow little, too. But Kenneth does 
not want to grow little. He is trying just as 
hard as he can, every day, to grow big. 


CHAPTER IV 


APRIL FOOL’S NIGHT 
N the night of April Fool’s day Ken- 



V_y neth had a strange adventure. It was 
Kenneth’s way to direct his dreamland jour- 
ney toward Fairyland, where, if he but knows 
the secret how, a child can have the pleasant- 
est possible times. On this particular night 
Kenneth shut his eyes tight and said the 
magic words which are the ticket on the 
Fairy Railroad; and presto! as usual, he 
found himself spinning through space into 
the realm where he would be. He kept his 
eyes shut tight, however, for every wise child 
knows that he must not peep during that 
wonderful journey, nor try to find out how it 
is done, or he will never be able to go again. 
It was only when a soft little jounce told him 
that the trip was over that Kenneth opened 
his eyes and ventured to look around. 


APRIL FOOL’S NIGHT 


29 


Yes, there he was, sure enough ! He 
remembered the glittering Christmas-tree 
avenue which led up from the station. He 
remembered the beautiful flower beds on 
either side of the path — fairy beds where the 
flowers could talk prettily, and answer any 
questions which a child might ask. He re- 
membered the white marble palace which 
gleamed beyond the Christmas trees, a pal- 
ace full of wonder and delight. He hastened 
toward it up the hill. Yes, this was certainly 
the Fairyland of his dreams, where he always 
had such a lovely, lovely time; where all 
that he wished came true in the most mar- 
velous way, and where delightful surprises 
were continually happening to give him plea- 
sure. Kenneth smacked his lips already at 
thought of the goodies he would have to eat, 
and his fingers wriggled eagerly, longing to 
clutch the wonder-toys which he knew were 
growing somewhere about for him, when he 
had time to look for them. 

Now there was no one to meet him at the 


30 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


Station, and Kenneth thought this strange. 
For he had expected to find his usual guide, 
a pretty little gauze fairy in spangled white, 
with a wand and crown and all the dainty 
ornaments which fairies wear. Kenneth was 
not greatly troubled, however, for he had 
been to Fairyland so often that he knew the 
country very well indeed, and he was not at 
all bashful nor afraid to help himself if he 
should see anything which pleased him. 

He began briskly to walk up the avenue, on 
either side of which the flowers nodded and 
smiled at him, saying, “Good evening, Ken- 
neth. How are you to-night ” 

Kenneth laughed and nodded back, think- 
ing to himself, “ How very pretty they look ! 
I never before saw them so gorgeous and 
beautiful. They must be perfumed with extra 
sweetness; I will go and see.” And, stepping 
up to a great bed of lilies, he bent over them, 
giving a deep, deep sniff ; for Kenneth loved 
dearly the fragrance of flowers. 

“Achoo! Achoo ! Achoo!” Kenneth 


APRIL FOOL’S NIGHT 31 

sneezed, and sneezed again, so that his head 
almost fell off. “ Achoo ! Achoo ! Achoo ! ” 
He reeled and staggered as he turned away. 
And all the flowers laughed so that they 
nearly snapped their slender stalks. They 
seemed to find it a great joke. 

“You dreadful flowers! You are full of 
snuff! Achoo ! ” he cried indignantly. 

“Aha! Aha! You know all about it!” 
cried the flowers. “ The trick is not new to 
you ; but is it not funny .? Aha ! Aha ! ” 
Kenneth did not think it at all funny as 
he ran on up the pathway, sneezing painfully 
at every step. At last he paused to wipe his 
eyes. “Achoo! Achoo!” Poor boy! He was 
fairly weak with his efforts, and spying a 
little seat near by under a tree, thought he 
would sit down to rest a minute and get 
his breath before going on his way. It was a 
funny little seat, like a great toadstool, and it 
looked very comfortable. But no sooner had 
Kenneth seated himself, than the wretched 
thing sank down into the ground, leaving 


32 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


him with a bump on the gravel of the 
avenue. 

“ Aha ! Aha ! ” cried the flowers, tittering 
foolishly when they saw Kenneth sprawling. 
“ Oh, how funny you do look ! What a good 
joke! How clever I We shall die laughing!” 

“You are very silly flowers,” said Kenneth, 
pouting. “ Y ou laugh at nothing at all. I 
never knew you to be so disagreeable.” And, 
trying to look very dignified in spite of his 
dusty jacket, he jumped up and strode down 
the avenue. The inviting little round seats 
seemed to have sprung up everywhere like 
mushrooms since his last visit, but he was too 
cautious to sit down again, although he was 
very tired. 

Kenneth walked so fast to escape the mor- 
tifying laughter which rang from the flower- 
bells, that he had almost passed the last 
Christmas tree before he remembered the 
magic fruit which they always bore for him. 

“ Hello ! ” he cried. “ I meant to look for 
a new jack-knife. I always find just what I 


APRIL FOOL’S NIGHT 33 

want on these trees. Why, yes — there is 
one now, right over my head. Oh, what a 
beauty ! ” He reached up to grasp it as it 
swung about a foot above his nose. But at the 
very moment when Kenneth stretched out his 
hand, the tree gave a sudden jerk and up flew 
the knife quite out of reach. 

“ Oh ! ” cried Kenneth, stamping his foot 
angrily. “ What made it do that ? ” 

“Ha, ha !” snickered the flowers, who had 
been peeping at him from a distance. “ What 
a joke ! Try again, Kenneth.” And Kenneth 
tried again and again, jumping after the knife 
more frantically each time. But it was of no 
use. A malicious breeze, or some other cause, 
seemed to bend the tree away from him when- 
ever he reached toward it. And at last he 
gave up in disgust. 

“ I wanted a fountain pen, too,” he said to 
himself. “ There ought to be one on another 
tree. Yes, here it is.” And once more Ken- 
neth reached eagerly for the shining black 
thing that dangled close by his hand. 


34 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


Pop ! Kenneth was half blinded by a 
stream of water that spurted into his eye. It 
was no fountain pen, but a fountain pop-gun 
that had gone off when he touched it. 

“ Ha, ha ! ” shrieked the flowers, in a per- 
fect madness of delight. Kenneth sat down 
on the grass to wipe his eyes and dry the 
little river that was running most uncom- 
fortably up his coat sleeve. But my ! How 
quickly he sprang up again ! The grass that 
looked so tempting and soft was a cruel snare. 
For some one had wickedly planted it with 
pins or needles. Poor Kenneth ! This was 
too much. 

It is no fun to find one’s self a human pin- 
cushion. He began to cry, and even then he 
heard the voices of the flowers sounding 
faintly, and they were laughing still. He 
glanced toward them angrily, then tucked his 
hands into his pockets and resolved not to let 
them see him cry. He marched away up the 
avenue without a glance into the Christmas 
trees, although they dangled the most inter- 


APRIL FOOL’S NIGHT 


35 


esting bundles before his face and seemed 
trying to tempt him to pluck their magic 
fruit. He also kept off the grass more care- 
fully than if there had been a staring sign- 
board to warn him. 

Now just outside the palace grew a thicket 
of magic nut bushes. Here Kenneth always 
stopped on his way to the greater wonders 
inside, to crack a nut and to have a pleasant 
surprise. Yes, there at the foot of the marble 
steps was the thicket, green as usual, and full 
of brown nuts, mysteriously knobby and pro- 
mising. Kenneth picked one and knelt down 
on the gravel to crack it with a stone. But 
instead of the beautiful velvet cloak, magically 
folded into a tiny parcel, or a dwarf pony 
which would quickly grow full-sized, or a 
picture-book with moving figures on its pages, 
such as he had found at other times, the nut 
was stuffed with dusty cobwebs, which were 
of no use to any one, least of all to Kenneth. 

“ Oh ! ” said Kenneth, in disappointment, 
and then he distinctly heard a queer voice 


36 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

cry, “April Fool!” He looked up and 
around, but there was no one to be seen. 

“April Fool 1 ” cried the voice again. “Ha, 
ha I Kenneth has such a sense of fun ! He is 
a great joker himself ; ha, ha I ” Kenneth 
thought it must be one of the flowers, though 
the voice sounded different. He wished the 
good Fairy would come to him. His chin 
began to quiver, when he heard the same 
queer voice tittering behind the thicket of 
nut bushes. There was a little summer house 
close by, and into this Kenneth ran to hide 
the tears which would come into his eyes. 
What a disagreeable country it was, this 
Fairyland which he had loved so well! He 
came here to be happy ; but all these ugly 
tricks fairly spoiled the pretty place. He said 
to himself that he would never come again. 
Just then he spied a large, square envelope 
fastened to the side of the summer house by 
a thorn. It was addressed, “ For Kenneth.” 

“ Why, that means me,” he cried, very 
much surprised. “ Perhaps it is a letter from 


APRIL FOOL’S NIGHT 


37 


my good Fairy to explain why she has not 
come to meet me.” And he tore it open 
eagerly. 

It was a fat, bulky letter of several sheets. 
This was very exciting, for Kenneth had not 
received many letters in his short life. He 
unfolded the first sheet. From the middle of 
the page stared at him these words printed in 
huge red letters : — 


APRIL FOOL! 


CHAPTER V 


THE APRIL FOOL 

K enneth looked at it angrily, then 
turned over the other pages. They 
were just the same as the first one. He tore 
up the sheets and threw them on the ground. 
It was only an April Fool letter, after all ! 

“April Fool! ” cried a voice, echoing the 
same hateful words. “ April Fool ! Ha ! ha 1 
What a joke I ” It was a funny little voice, 
louder than those of the flowers, and, instead 
of being silvery sweet like theirs, it was harsh 
and disagreeable. Kenneth glanced up, and 
there, perched on the railing of the summer- 
house, was the queerest little fellow, making 
the most horrible faces. With a bound the 
figure sprang inside, and Kenneth saw him 
more clearly. He was certainly a fairy, for 
he had wings, gauzy and beautiful, growing 
from his shoulders. But his dress was unlike 


THE APRIL FOOL 


39 


that of any fairy whom Kenneth had met. 
It reminded him, however, of pictures that 
he had sometimes seen in books. This fairy 
wore a suit half of red and half of yellow ; 
one leg and one shoe were red and the other 
yellow. His doublet was divided likewise, 
and likewise the funny hood which he wore 
about his shoulders. The borders of his cos- 
tume were cut into points, and from every 
point hung a little bell that jingled and jan- 
gled mischievously whenever the imp moved 
about — which was continually. His cap had 
two long pointed ears, and in his hand he 
carried a wand, on the end of which was a 
copy of himself dressed in red and yellow, 
and tinkly with many bells. He was a very 
funny figure, and his mouth stretched from 
ear to ear in a grin which made Kenneth 
laugh, too. But Kenneth soon stopped laugh- 
ing ; for there was something about the imp’s 
smile that was not kindly, and that made one 
half afraid. 

“ Who are you ?” asked Kenneth, trying to 


40 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

seem very bold, “And what are you laugh- 
ing at ? I don’t see anything so very funny at 
this moment.” 

“ Oh, don’t you ?” grinned the imp. 
“April Fool! Ido. I am April Fool, Why, 
don’t you know me?” And turning around 
he showed Kenneth a large placard, such as 
he had himself often made, pinned to one 
of the points of the imp’s doublet, “April 
Fool!” it read. Kenneth began to under- 
stand. 

“Oh, you are April Fool, are you?” he 
said. “ I never saw you before,” 

“Ho! You never saw me? No, but you 
have used my name often enough. You re- 
member April Fool’s day every year? Aha ! 
Those were good tricks you played, though 
to be sure most of them were old enough — 
old as I am, and that is old indeed, I can tell 
you, my little joker. But they are good jokes, 
are they not ? One never tires of them, does 
one ? ” And again he grinned at Kenneth 
maliciously. 



I AM APRIL FOOL 











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THE APRIL FOOL 


41 


“N-no,” said Kenneth, doubtfully, look- 
ing again at the pieces of the torti April 
Fool letter and rubbing his eyes, which still 
smarted from the snuff. “ But I think jokes 
are funnier when one looks on, don’t you ?” 

“Ha! ha!” laughed the imp. “That is 
the best joke of all. Why, some folk seem to 
think as you do. But not I ! Now I love a 
good joke for its own sake better than any- 
thing else in the world. I am always in it, 
for I am the joke itself. Ha, ha ! ” 

“ Then it is you who have made all these 
things happen to me,” said Kenneth angrily. 
“ What do you mean by it ? ” 

“ Ha ! ha ! Don’t you know what night 
it is? To-morrow is the first of April ! What 
can you expect in Fairyland except the very 
biggest of jokes ? This is my night. But 
come, now, don’t be sulky. It is only a joke 
after all, and you are such a joker yourself that 
you ought to take these little matters very 
cheerfully. Come with me.” 

“ I don’t want to come with you,” said 


42 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


Kenneth, hanging back. “I want to go 
home.” 

“Nonsense, you cannot go home yet,” an- 
swered the imp. “ It is not nearly morning. 
Now that you have come you must stay 
here until the time is up.” 

“ Then I want my good Fairy guide,” said 
Kenneth. 

“Ho!” cried the other in scorn. “She is 
too silly-kind, too goody-goody. She has no 
real sense of fun, poor thing.” 

“I like her fun best,” insisted Kenneth. 
“ Please take me to her.” 

“ Oh, very well,” said April Fool care- 
lessly. “ If you insist I will bring you to her. 
But first you must have something to eat, for 
it is a long journey. Are you not hungry, 
poor boy ?” 

Kenneth confessed that he was very hungry. 
“ Then we will go to the kitchen garden,” 
replied the imp ; “ and there you can feast as 
much as you like.” 

“ Oh, yes I I have been to the kitchen 


THE APRIL FOOL 


43 


garden,” cried Kenneth, brightening, “ The 
good Fairy took me there; it is a lovely 
place ! ” 

He followed April Fool out of the summer- 
house into a narrow path leading on and on 
and on between green hedgerows full of blos- 
soms. Overhead the birds sang sweetly, and 
the sky was blue. Kenneth began to feel very 
happy. At last, in the distance, he caught 
sight of the kitchen garden, as he well re- 
membered it, with its tall pie-fruit trees, its 
cooky bushes, its eclair plants, and its ice- 
cream fountains. The glimpse made him so 
hungry that he could hardly wait to be there, 
and he ran ahead, outstripping April Fool 
himself. 

“ That is right ! Hurry, my boy ! ” cried 
the imp heartily. And Kenneth skipped on 
happily. But suddenly bump ! went his head 
and his knee against something hard, and he 
came to a dizzy stop, hardly knowing what 
had happened. There lay the kitchen garden 
just beyond, but something had stopped him 


44 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


and would not let him pass, something which 
he could not see. 

“ Ha ! ha ! April Fool again ! ” laughed the 
imp, holding his sides for merriment. “ Don’t 
you see through this joke? Why, it is per- 
fectly transparent.” 

Sure enough ! Kenneth put out his hand, 
and found that it was a wall of glass, which 
stretched across the path from hedge to hedge ; 
a gateless wall which he could by no means 
climb over, but through which he could 
plainly see all the dainties on the other side. 
Kenneth groaned. “ Oh, I am so hungry ! 
What a cruel, cruel joke ! ” 

“Jokes do seem cruel sometimes,” ad- 
mitted April Fool; “but they are such fun! 
Oh, my, oh, my 1 How queer you did look 
when you bumped against that wall ! ” and 
he burst out laughing once more. 

“ Well, are you going to let me in ?” asked 
Kenneth, trying to keep his temper, though 
he thought the joke in very poor taste, like 
most of April Fool’s tricks. 



KENNETH FOUND THAT IT WAS A WALL OF GLASS 


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THE APRIL FOOL 


45 


“ Oh, no, we cannot enter here,” said the 
imp. “ This is only an impracticable window. 
We shall have to go around by another way, 
a detour of some miles. But this time I really 
promise to take you to the kitchen garden.” 

Kenneth was very angry, but he began to 
suspect that he must let April Fool have his 
own way on this night. They turned back 
down the narrow path and began a long, tire- 
some journey round about and round about 
to the garden which they had already seen so 
near. 

And what a journey that was ! beset by so 
many surprises, shocks, and practical jokes that 
Kenneth was nearly frantic before they had 
seen the end. They were crossing a bridge 
over a pretty little stream, when in the mid- 
dle — crash / The whole structure gave way, 
and down they fell, with a sickening sinking 
feeling — fully three feet ! Then the bridge 
came to rest on the magic springs which were 
made to complete this jouncy joke. After this 
their way led through a pitch-black cavern. 


46 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

which was so silent that Kenneth could hear 
his heart beat as he felt his way along. Sud- 
denly there was an awful roar, like the growl 
of hundreds of wild beasts let loose. Kenneth 
screamed with fright, but the imp cried out, 
“ April Fool ! ” And immediately the cave 
was filled with light, showing only an inno- 
cent sound-machine which had made all this 
commotion. 

They came within sight of a broad brook, 
which the imp said they must cross. Kenneth 
took off his shoes and stockings to wade and 
stepped down to the margin. But what was 
his anger to find that it was only a wide mir- 
ror over which they were able to pass dry- 
shod. That was a famous joke, to judge by 
the imp’s shrieks of laughter when he saw 
Kenneth put out his foot to wade into the 
glassy stream. But Kenneth had become so 
tired of such fun that he did not even smile. 

Kenneth grew thirsty, and they stopped to 
drink at a fountain which gushed clear and 
sparkling by the wayside. But at the first 


THE APRIL FOOL 


47 


draught Kenneth found his mouth full of 
horrid, briny water, such as one swallows by 
mistake when one is bathing in the sea. Poor 
boy ! This made him all the thirstier, but 
he was resolved not to show April Fool how 
wretched and unhappy he really was. 


CHAPTER VI 


THE APRIL-FOOL JOURNEY 
r last, however, when Kenneth was so 



tired and faint that he could hardly walk 
another step, they came to the kitchen garden. 
There were the pie trees and the raspberry 
shrubs, the caramel plants and the bonbon 
hedge, brown with luscious chocolates. 

“Now, help yourself,” said the imp cor- 
dially. And without further invitation Ken- 
neth fell to. A fine cream pie lay under one 
of the trees, from which it had just fallen. 
Kenneth cut a wedge out of it with the knife 
which was sticking conveniently in the tree- 
trunk, and began to eat it ravenously. But 
faugh ! What dreadful stuff ! It was frosted 
with soapsuds instead of whipped cream ! 

“April Fool!” cried the imp, dancing 
up and down, for this was the best joke of 


all. 


THE APRIL-FOOL JOURNEY 


49 


“ Oh ! ” whimpered Kenneth, “ I hope 
they are not all April-Fool goodies.” And he 
ran to the next tree. But a bite was all he 
needed to prove that he must not trust his eyes 
this April Fool’s night. The mince pies were 
made of sand and sawdust, with pebbles for 
plums. The sponge cake was indeed a real 
sponge. The doughnuts were of India rubber ; 
they might be fine for a teething baby to bite, 
but they were a poor lunch for a hungry boy. 
The griddle-cakes were rounds of leather, 
nicely browned on both sides. The salad was 
made of tissue paper ; the chocolates were 
stuffed with cotton wool and other horrid 
stuff; while the maple sugar, upon which 
Kenneth was perfectly sure he could rely, 
turned out to be yellow soap — clean, but not 
appetizing. 

Even the eggs, growing innocently white 
upon the egg-plant, turned out to be hollow 
mockeries ; some humorous little boy seemed 
to have blown their insides away, as a great 
joke. Once Kenneth would have thought that 


5 ° 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


a very funny idea. But now he sat down and 
cried and cried, he was so disappointed and 
so hungry. 

“ Boo hoo ! Boo hoo ! ” sobbed Kenneth. 
“ I want to go home. I don’t like Fairyland 
one bit ! ” 

“ Ha ! ha ! ” laughed the imp. “April Fool ! 
This isn’t Fairyland at all; this is April Fool 
Land, and you are It. But come, I really think 
you have had enough of it. I will take you 
to the true Fairyland, and give you over to 
your kind, good, serious Fairy guide. Shall 
we go ? One, two, three — out goes he!” And 
with a snap of his fingers, Kenneth found him- 
self outside the tantalizing kitchen garden, 
walking toward his good Fairy’s real, truly 
palace, which gleamed comfortingly through 
the trees. 

At first he dared not think that it was really 
so ; he suspected another joke of April Fool’s. 
But at last he spied the good Fairy herself, 
standing at the top of the long flight of marble 
steps which led up to the palace. Kenneth 


THE APRIL-FOOL JOURNEY 51 

ran forward and waved his hand eagerly, he 
was so anxious to exchange guides and to be 
rid of the hateful imp. But the Fairy did not 
seem to see him. She was shading her eyes 
with her hand and looking off over the Christ- 
mas trees, appearing troubled. 

“Humph! ” growled the imp. “There she 
is, looking for you. And how eager you are 
to leave me, now that you have enjoyed all 
the jokes I had to play. Well, good-by I You 
have only to walk up the staircase to your 
goody-goody Fairy, and you will be safe from 
me. I cannot pass into that palace, where the 
fun is of a different kind from mine.” 

“ It is a great deal nicer than yours, for it is 
always kind,” retorted Kenneth, “and yet it 
is just as funny.” 

“Very well, go and look for it, then,” cried 
the imp, and without another word he dis- 
appeared. 

Kenneth was much relieved to see him go. 
He set his foot on the lowest stair and eagerly 
began the ascent of the marble flight. But no 


52 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


sooner had he lifted his foot to the second step 
than the staircase itself began to move under 
him, so that he had to step quickly to keep 
from falling. Horrible ! What did this mean ? 
“April Fool!” cried a voice behind him. 
“ Ha I ha I It is my last joke, and it is a rare 
good one. You are on a treadmill staircase, 
Kenneth. You must climb fast or you will 
fall down and be ground up inside the ma- 
chine. Hurrah! Step lively, please ! Quicker, 
quicker ! Maybe you will reach the top by 
to-morrow morning.” 

Kenneth had to work his little legs faster 
and faster and faster, as the great staircase 
revolved under him. Yet however he strove 
he reached never a step nearer the top, but 
remained always in the same spot. And the 
Fairy still looked away over the tops of the 
Christmas trees, without seeing him. 

“ Ha ! ha ! ” laughed the imp ; but his voice 
was fainter than it had been, and Kenneth 
hoped it was fading away. The poor boy was 
so exhausted that he felt he could not keep 


THE APRIL-FOOL JOURNEY 53 

up for long. His legs ached and his head 
ached dizzily, and his poor back, bent over 
the whirling staircase, ached most of all. “ I 
cannot bear it,” he said to himself, panting 
and out of breath. “ I cannot move my legs 
any faster. I cannot breathe. I must sit down, 
even if I do go under to be ground into little 
pieces.” 

Without more ado Kenneth sat down on 
the staircase, closing his eyes and shuddering 
with fear of what might happen next. But 
what happened ? The staircase merely stopped 
with a jerk — and stood still. 

“April Fool!” cried the far-off voice of 
the imp. “You might have done it long ago. 
April Fool — Fool — Fool !” and the voice 
faded away into a mere sigh of the breeze. 

At the same moment Kenneth heard a sweet 
call from the top of the staircase. “Kenneth, 
Kenneth 1 ” it said, in silvery tones quite unlike 
the imp’s harsh ones. And, looking up, he saw 
his good Fairy coming swiftly down the stair- 
case toward him. 


54 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

“Oh, good Fairy,” sobbed Kenneth, “I 
have had such a dreadful time looking for 
you! Please stay by me, and do not let that 
bad, bad April Fool find me again.” 

The good Fairy leaned over Kenneth and 
put her hand on his head. “ Poor boy 1 ” she 
said. “ Has April Fool been playing his tricks 
on you ? This was his night, you know. He 
said you were a friend of his, so we had to let 
him have his joke with you. He is indeed a 
horrid fellow, and I hope he is no longer your 
friend.” 

“ No, he will never be my friend again,” 
cried Kenneth. 

“ I like my own kind of jokes a great deal 
better,” said the Fairy: “pleasant surprises, un- 
expected kindnesses, pain turned into pleasure, 
and disappointment into joy. One can play 
those jokes all through the year. But it is too 
late for any of them to-night. You must go 
back home now, Kenneth.” 

“ I am quite ready to go,” said Kenneth 
wearily, for even a pleasant joke had no charms 


THE APRIL-FOOL JOURNEY 


55 


for him now, he was so tired. The Fairy took 
him by the hand and led him back to the 
station. They passed the magic nut bushes, 
but Kenneth did not pause. They walked 
under the tempting Christmas trees, but he 
did not look up. They went between the 
rows of flowers, gently tittering on either side, 
but Kenneth did not so much as glance at 
them. The kind Fairy held his hand, and 
April Fool could play no tricks upon him 
now. 

At the station the Fairy guide kissed Ken- 
neth sweetly, and closed his eyes with her 
wand. “ Come again to-morrow night,” she 
murmured, “and naughty April Fool will be 
gone for another year. Then you shall come 
into my palace and we will play some happy 
tricks.” 

Then she spoke the magic words of his 
return ticket, and Kenneth, with his eyes 
closed, felt a spring, a rush, and a whirling 
about his head. But he never peeped until 
he felt once more the gentle jounce that told 


56 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


him the end of his journey had come. Then 
with his fists he rubbed his eyes and, winking 
sleepily, opened them to find himself snugly 
lying in bed, with the morning sun shining 
into his window. 


CHAPTER VII 


THE DOLLS’ MAY-PARTY 
LICE had never gone to a party before. 



^ Of course Rose, who was almost six 
years old, had gone to a great many. But 
Alice, who was her newest doll, was very 
young. She had come, you remember, on 
Christmas day, at the same time with Buff 
and Fluff; and the kittens had never yet been 
to a party either. 

Matilda, who was Rose’s old doll, had been 
to almost as many parties as Rose herself. 
But Matilda was not invited to this party. 
Only the youngest and prettiest dolls were 
invited to this party, for it was to be a May- , 
Party, where every one has to look as beautiful 
as possible. Poor Matilda had only one eye 
and a broken nose. 

Ernestine, who was Lilian’s doll and who 
lived in the next block to Rose and Alice, sent 


58 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

out the invitations to ten dolls and their little 
mammas. They were to come at two o’clock 
in the afternoon of May Day for a picnic at 
her house. And every one was to bring a lun- 
cheon in a little basket, just as if it were a 
really truly picnic in the summer woods, in- 
stead of a cold city May. 

Rose dressed Alice in her prettiest white 
muslin gown, with a blue sash and the dear 
little watch which had come in the Christmas 
stocking. Alice’s yellow hair was curled and 
tied with a blue bow, and she looked so much 
like her little mother that Mrs. Thornton 
could not help laughing when they started for 
the picnic together. But Rose did not see 
anything very funny about it. Every one said 
that she looked like her own mother, and why 
should not Alice look like Rose ? 

At the very last moment, when they were 
starting for the party. Rose ran back upstairs 
to the play-room, where the old Matilda sat 
in her little chair by the fireplace. 

“ You poor dear old thing,” said Rose, hug- 


THE DOLLS’ MAY-PARTY 59 

ging her tight, “ I never before went to a 
party without you, and it seems very cruel to 
leave you all alone. But please remember that 
I still love you dearly, though you have only 
one eye, and your nose is broken, and you 
are n’t pretty like Alice, I can’t take you to 
parties any more, because people would laugh 
at you. But you have had a great many good 
times, haven’t you, Matilda,? while Alice 
has n’t been yet to a single party, I must 
make Alice have a good time now, for she is 
my youngest child. Good-by, Matilda dear, 
and don’t you be lonesome while we are 
gone,” 

Then Rose kissed the poor old doll and set 
her back in the little chair beside the fireplace. 
But Matilda looked very sad when the little 
mother went out of the door with the new 
doll in her arms, and it almost looked as if 
there was a real tear on her faded cheek under 
the one remaining eye. 

When the front door banged behind them, 
Matilda fell forward onto the carpet and lay 


6o BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

there face downwards all the while that Rose 
and Alice were at the May Party. 

The party was held in Lilian’s dining- 
room. The floor was covered with a green 
rug which had flowers on it, and which looked 
like the real grassy out-doors of the coun- 
try. In the middle of the room, instead of a 
dining-table, was a little May-pole, as tall as 
Rose’s head, with a wreath of flowers at the 
top and pretty colored ribbons hanging down 
all around it. 

On one side was a throne with three little 
steps leading up to it, for the May Queen to 
sit on. And on top of the throne lay a beau- 
tiful crown of real flowers for the Queen to 
wear. 

First of all, the dolls were stood up in a 
long row, so that the prettiest one might be 
chosen. There was Ernestine herself, the 
hostess, who was a fat wax doll as big as a 
real baby, with flaxen hair and four white 
teeth. Ernestine was very accomplished, for 
she could say “Papa” and “Mamma,” but 


THE DOLLS’ MAY-PARTY 


6i 


she was not nice and huggable and pretty 
like Alice. (At least, that was what Rose 
thought.) 

Then there was Marjorie, who had black 
hair, and Helen-Grace- Antoinette, who wore 
a real satin dress that came from Paris ; and 
Bebe, who was in long clothes and who was 
thought by all the little mothers, except her 
own, too babyish for a May Party. There 
was Yo-San, who was a lovely Japanese 
lady ; and Toto, a little boy sailor doll, the 
only gentleman present, — and of course he 
could n’t be the May Queen ! Then there were 
Blanche, and Beatrice, and D-inah who was 
black, — everybody wondered why she came 
to the party. Last of all, there was Alice. She 
was smaller than Blanche and Beatrice, but 
she wore a watch tucked into her sash. No 
other doll had a watch. 

Each little girl wrote on a piece of paper 
the name of the doll which, next to her own, 
she thought prettiest. No one could vote for 
her own doll, for of course each little mother 


62 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


would think her own child the best, and 
there would have to be ten queens, 

Lilian’s mamma counted the votes. And 
what do you suppose ? Alice was elected to 
be May Queen ! It was all on account of the 
watch. You can imagine how proud Rose 
was. 

They set Ahce on the throne and put the 
crown of real flowers on her yellow curls, and 
she looked so pretty that Rose had to rush up 
and kiss her the very first thing. And all the 
other little girls wanted to kiss her, too. 

Then the dolls danced around the May- 
pole, each one holding the end of one of the 
colored ribbons, till the pole was twisted all 
the way down and looked like a big stick 
of striped candy. The dolls seemed to enjoy 
it very much, but their mammas were a bit 
dizzy afterwards. 

Then it was time for the picnic. Every- 
body sat down cross-legged on the green 
grass rug and opened the little lunch-baskets. 
First they spread a napkin on the grass, just 


THE DOLLS’ MAY-PARTY 63 

as one does at a real picnic, and set all the 
cakes and cookies and sandwiches on it, 
where every one could reach for herself. And 
they ate without any plates or knives or forks, 
which was great fun. But there were no ants 
to come and eat up the crumbs. 

There were little cunning cakes, and figs 
and dates, grapes and apples, and some mo- 
lasses candy. And there was lemonade to 
drink, — just like a grown-up picnic. 

After they had eaten everything they played 
games around the May-pole until it was al- 
most dark, and then it was time to go home. 
But before they went Ernestine, who gave the 
party, carried up to the throne a big tissue- 
paper basket full of flowers, and gave it to the 
May Queen, kneeling down before Alice on 
the lowest step of the throne, just as they do 
in plays. And Rose was so proud that her 
face turned as pink as one of the roses in the 
May Queen’s lovely basket. Each doll had a 
dear little nosegay to take home, but only the 
Queen had a whole basket full of flowers. 


64 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

“You dear, lovely Queen Alice!” cried 
Rose, as she hugged her dollie tight on the 
way home. “ I am so proud of you, and I 
love you better than anything in the world 
except Papa and Mamma and Kenneth and 
Cousin Charlie, — oh, yes, and Matilda. I 
had almost forgotten poor Matilda.” 

Rose was quiet for a minute, and then she 
whispered to Alice, “ Don’t you think you 
ought to give some of these lovely flowers to 
poor Matilda, who did n’t go to the party and 
who is n’t pretty any more ? ” 

Alice was a sweet little doll, and was quite 
willing to share her flowers. So as soon as the 
front door was opened Rose ran upstairs to 
the play-room with the May Queen on one 
arm and the basket of flowers on the other. 
There she found poor Matilda lying face 
downward on the carpet. 

“ Oh, you poor, poor dollie ! ’! cried Rose. 
“ Did you feel so badly as that ? Well, don’t 
cry any more. Here is your dear little sister, 
the May Queen, who has come to share her 



SHE LIFTED POOR MATILDA AND SET HER UP ON THE 

WINDOW SEAT 








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THE DOLLS’ MAY-PARTY 


65 


lovely flowers with you. We both love you 
so much that we are going to make you our 
Play-Room Queen. See ! ” 

Then she lifted poor Matilda and set her 
up on the window seat, as if she were on a 
throne. And she took the beautiful flowers 
out of Alice’s basket and made a wreath 
which she placed on the old doll’s scraggly 
hair. And she pinned a lovely rose on Ma- 
tilda’s dress. 

“ Now you look very nice and dear,” said 
Rose, as she kissed her on her battered cheek. 
“ Good night. Queen Matilda of the play- 
room. Is n’t this almost as good as being May 
Queen ? ” 

And Matilda looked as if she thought it 
was. She seemed to be smiling with her ugly 
mouth. And when Rose softly shut the door 
of the play-room the old doll looked almost 
pretty, — in spite of her one eye and broken 
nose, — sitting there on the window seat, with 
Alice, the beautiful May Queen, at her feet. 


CHAPTER VIII 


THE DARK ROOM 

I N the middle of June Kenneth came down 
with the scarlet fever. This was very 
unpleasant for Kenneth, and for Kenneth’s 
papa and mamma, who were just making 
ready to move the family down to the Island 
for the summer. It was very hard for Rose, 
too ; for of course she could not play with 
Kenneth nor even see him for fear lest she 
too should catch the fever. It was a terible 
thing for Rose not to see Kenneth for days 
and weeks. 

They decided to send her away into the 
country, to the farm where Aunt Mary and 
Uncle John with Rose’s cousin Charlie Car- 
roll had gone to live. Aunt Mary said that she 
would be glad to play for a while that Rose 
was her own little girl, for poor Aunt Mary 
had no little girl of her own. And Charlie 


THE DARK ROOM 


67 

thought that it would be great fun to have a 
little sister ; for you see he had never had one. 
And that is why he did not make a very 
good kind of brother at first. 

Rose had not been in the country long be- 
fore she began to miss Kenneth more than 
ever, — more even than she had expected. It 
was all Charlie’s fault. 

Charlie had his naughty days, — every one 
has naughty days, sometimes, until he learns 
better. But it happened unfortunately that 
Charlie’s naughtiest time came the very day 
after Rose arrived in the country, when she 
was feeling especially lonesome, and before 
she was acquainted with the new house and 
the barn and the new pets and playthings. She 
began to be homesick almost as soon as her 
father said good-by to her and went away to 
the train which would carry him home to 
Mamma and Kenneth and the city. But she 
was still more homesick the next morning, 
when she woke up and remembered that she 
was not going to see Kenneth all that long. 


68 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


bright, beautiful, out-of-doorsy day. So you 
see she needed very much that Charlie should 
be extra kind and good to her. 

Charlie’s mamma lay awake that morn- 
ing smiling to herself to think how nice it 
was that Rose was going to be Charlie’s little 
sister for a time, and how happy he would 
make her in this beautiful country, showing 
her the new kittens, and the rabbits, and old 
Brindle’s little calf, and the flower-garden, — 
all the things which Charlie had enjoyed so 
much since he had come into the county to 
live. But that was before she knew this was 
Charlie’s naughty day. 

From the moment when he first opened his 
eyes and got out of the wrong side of the bed, 
Charlie was in trouble, and his mother had to 
speak to him so many times that she was 
ashamed to have Rose hear. 

After breakfast, when Rose cried eagerly, 
“ Oh, Charlie, now will you show me every- 
thing ? ” Charlie sulked and said, “ Oh, 
bother ! ” And when Rose followed him out 


THE DARK ROOM 


69 


into the garden, he tried to run away from 
her. But Rose could run fast too, and he 
soon found her panting at his heels. 

“What makes you run so fast, Charlie .? ” she 
asked. “ I can hardly keep up with you.” 

“Well, I don’t want you to keep up with 
me,” he answered, turning his back on her 
and slapping his stick at a poor sunflower. 
“ You had better go back to the house. I 
don’t want to play with you.” 

Rose’s eyes filled with tears and she said, 
“ What makes you so bad to me, Charlie .? 
I have n’t seen you for a long time, but I 
thought you were a nice, pleasant boy, like 
Kenneth. Oh, how I wish I could go back 
to Kenneth ! ” 

“Go home as soon as you please,” said Char- 
lie rudely. “ I don’t want you for a sister if 
you are so fussy and cross.” 

“ I am not fussy and cross !” cried Rose in- 
dignantly. “You have been very impolite and 
horrid to me, and I am ashamed of you ! ” 

Then, I am sorry to say, Charlie did a very 


70 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


naughty thing. He pushed Rose roughly, so 
that she fell down and bruised her poor little 
knee. She tried not to cry, but the tears would 
come. And when she saw Charlie disappear 
around the corner of the house with his hands 
in his pockets, as if he did not care at all, she 
began to sob. 

“ I wish I had not come to the country ! ” 
she whimpered. 

Now from the parlor window Charlie’s 
mother had seen this last naughtiness, and 
straightway she went after her boy, who was 
kicking his toe against the piazza steps. 

“ Charlie, you have been a very naughty 
boy,” she said. “You have hurt your little 
cousin, and I must punish you. What makes 
you so bad to-day ? I thought you and Rose 
would have such pleasant times together ! ” 

“ I don’t like girls,” said Charlie sulkily. 
“ They are telltales and cry-babies. I am 
glad I pushed her.” 

“Charlie!” exclaimed his mother, much 
shocked. “ Go right up to the dark room 


THE DARK ROOM 71 

and sit down in a chair and stay there until 
you are sorry. When you are truly sorry you 
can come out and tell Rose.” 

“ I shan’t ever be sorry,” said Charlie ob- 
stinately. “And I will never tell her that I 
am.” 

“ Then you will have no supper to-night,” 
said his mother firmly. “ Go, now. Do as I 
tell you, Charlie.” 

Charlie knew that it was not safe to linger 
when his mother spoke in that tone. He 
stamped up the three flights of stairs and opened 
the door of the dark room. It was a spare 
chamber that was seldom used, save on Char- 
lie’s naughty days. The blinds were closed 
tight, and not a ray of the beautiful summer 
sunshine could enter. Instead, there was a 
gloomy, greenish dimness, which was not at 
all pleasant. And the room was very, very still. 
The rest of the world seemed a long way off. 

Charlie dragged a chair into the middle of 
the room and sat down, kicking the rungs with 
his feet. It was all Rose’s fault. He had given 


72 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


her only a tiny push, and it could not have hurt 
her much. She was such a cry-baby and tell- 
tale ! Of course it must have been she who had 
told his mother all about it. He could hear the 
faint sound of old Carlo barking outside, and 
fancied he caught echoes of Rose’s happy 
laughter. Yes, undoubtedly the mean little 
thing was playing with Carlo, enjoying herself 
in the beautiful sunshine as if nothing had hap- 
ened, while he was shut up in the old dark 
room ! Charlie thought of all the fine things 
he had planned to do this day, if something 
had not gone wrong from the very beginning. 

A great fly buzzed against the window pane, 
and for a time Charlie was interested in watch- 
ing it bump its foolish head again and again. 
But he soon grew tired of the sight and sound. 
What a stupid way to spend a beautiful day, 
watching an old fly in a dark room! How the 
minutes dragged that usually galloped away 
too fast I He had only to say that he was sorry, 
and he might come out. But he was not sorry, 
and he would never tell Rose so. 


THE DARK ROOM 


73 


The time dragged on. The fly had ceased 
to buzz, and Carlo to bark. There was no 
sound inside or outside the dark room. Prob- 
ably Rose had gone to ride. Mamma had pro- 
mised to take them to the lake, where they 
could learn to row. What fun that would 
have been! Now Rose was enjoying it alone. 
Selfish little thing! 

Charlie began to fidget. The chair was hard 
and uncomfortable ; he thought he must have 
been sitting there for hours. Luncheon time 
was over and gone. It must be almost even- 
ing, Surely it was growing even darker in the 
dark room. How could he ever bear to stay 
there all night alone — without any supper, 
too ! He began to feel very hungry indeed. 
Suppose he should starve to death ! That would 
make Rose feel badly enough. He hoped it 
would break her heart. A tear rolled down 
the side of his nose at the thought of his 
sad fate. 

Just then he heard a sound outside the door. 
The knob turned, and in tiptoed a little figure 


74 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

in white, with yellow hair and blue ribbons. 
It was Rose. Her face was tear-stained, and 
she looked piteously at him without speaking. 
Charlie frowned, and turned his head away. 
He was not sorry. 

Rose stood first on one foot and then on the 
other, glancing shyly at Charlie, as if hoping 
that he would speak. But he only sulked and 
kicked the chair-rung harder. At last she 
dragged another chair from a corner of the 
room, placed its back to his, climbed up into 
it and sat down. 

“H’m ! ” thought Charlie, “She has been 
naughty too. Now Mamma sees that I am 
not the only bad one. I wonder how long 
she will have to stay here.” 

They sat silent for a long time, back to 
back. Then Charlie heard a sniff behind him. 
He knew that Rose was crying. “ I am glad 
of it ! ” he said to himself. “ I am glad she 
was naughty and had to be punished. Usually 
girls are not punished like boys. They are 
lucky, and manage to escape.” 



IN TIPTOED A LITTLE FIGURE 


7 ' ^r* 

V ' " / 



♦ ^ *•■'■' ■' J 










THE DARK ROOM 


75 


Another little snifF from Rose ; then a long 
silence. At last she spoke, in a half-sobbing 
voice : “ It is beautiful out of doors. But it 
is horrid in this dark room.” Charlie made 
no reply. Presently Rose tried again. “ How 
long have you got to stay here, Charlie ? ” 

“ I don’t know,” he answered gruffly ; “ all 
night, perhaps.” 

“ Oh ! ” Rose’s tone was startled, and again 
there was a long silence. 

“Are n’t you going to have any supper, 
Charlie ? ” she asked wistfully. 

“No,” said Charlie. “Are you?” 

“ N-no,” said Rose hesitating, and then 
she gave a very long sigh. 

Charlie chuckled. She had “ told ” of him. 
It was her fault. Since he had to suffer, it was 
some comfort to think that she must do so 
also. He was not a bit sorry. 

“ I wish we could have gone to the lake,” 
sighed Rose again. “ I s’pect Aunt Mary went 
without us.” At this tantalizing thought 
Charlie retorted angrily : — 


76 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


“ If you had not been a cry-baby and a 
telltale, mother would n’t have punished me, 
and we could both have gone.” 

“ I did n’t tell ! ” cried Rose indignantly. 
“ I would n’t have told if you had broken my 
leg off. I can’t bear telltales, and I would n’t 
be one for anything.” 

“Well, how did mother know, then?” 
asked Charlie, somewhat less crossly. 

“ I s’pose she looked out of the window 
and saw you push me, and I s’pose she saw 
that I was mis’able.” 

“ Cry-baby ! ” taunted Charlie scornfully. 

“ I am not a cry-baby,” said Rose, with a 
quaver in her voice. “ It took all the skin 
off my knee — look ! — and it hurts awfully 
when I bend it around, so. But I never told 
Aunt Mary, and she doesn’t know. I cried 
a little because — because you hurt my feel- 
ings ; that was why.” 

“ Humph ! ” grunted Charlie, looking at 
the bruised, tender little knee. He tried to 
make light of it, but his cheeks reddened. 


THE DARK ROOM 


77 

and he felt ashamed. Rose was such a little 
thing, after all. 

Rose writhed in her seat. “ Must you stay 
in the chair all the time?” she asked over 
her shoulder. 

“Yes,” said Charlie briefly. 

“ It is so hard ! I thought — if we could 
stand up, or sit down on the floor — maybe 
— but anyway we might play something else, 
some kind of quiet game ; Twenty Questions, 
or — or something. Would you like to do 
that, Charlie ? ” She twisted about in the 
chair and eyed the back of his head wistfully. 
Charlie hardened his heart. 

“No,” he said crossly. “I don’t want to 
play anything in this horrid old dark room.” 

“It isn’t quite so lonesome now that I am 
here, is it?” asked Rose anxiously. Charlie 
made no reply. “I thought you might be glad 
for company,” she went on. “ I don’t mind 
being here — much. But it is nicer outside. 
There is Carlo — hear him bark ! And there 
are the sunshine and the birds and flowers — 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


78 

and everything. Oh, it is lovely here in the 
country ! I thought we would have such good 
times together, Charlie, as we used to do when 
you lived in the city, only here it is much nicer. 
You have so many lovely things to show me, 
Aunt Mary said. But now ” — She stopped 
short as if afraid of hurting his feelings. 

“How long have you got to stay here?” 
asked Charlie, wishing that she would go 
away. 

“Oh, I don’t know,” she answered; “per- 
haps all night. But I hope not.” 

“Why, what did you do that was so bad ?” 
asked Charlie, turning half around, in surprised 
interest. 

“I ? Oh, I — I — I did n’t do anything,” 
stammered Rose. 

“Then why did Mamma send you here?” 
he demanded. 

“She didn’t send me. She doesn’t know 
I ’m here. She thinks that I am in the sum- 
mer house with Carlo and my dolls, where she 
left me — hours ago.” 


THE DARK ROOM 


79 


“Then what did you come here for?” 
Charlie looked at her sternly. She dropped 
her eyes and fidgeted with the ruffle of her 
dress. 

“I — I came because I didn’t want you 
to be punished all alone. P’rhaps if I hadn’t 
come to your house you would not have 
been naughty at all ; so it was partly my fault. 
I am so sorry, Charlie! I shall stay here as 
long as you do.” 

Charlie whirled around in his chair and 
sat back resolutely. He would not be sorry. 
Yes, it had been her fault ; she had made him 
angry. Let her stay and be unhappy I 

They sat very still for a time, then Charlie 
felt a little hand steal around the chair back 
and touch his gently. But he jerked away. 

“Are you angry, Charlie, because I came?” 
asked the soft little voice. “ If you are very 
angry, I will go away. But I had much rather 
stay here in the dark with you. I — I am so 
lonesome without Kenneth, and you are all the 
brother I have now. Won’t you let me be your 


8o 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


little truly sister and do as I would if you were 
Kenneth? When I knew you were shut up 
here it made me so unhappy that I couldn’t 
play. I could n’t even enjoy the sunshine and 
the flowers. If you go without your supper, so 
shall I. And if you stay here all night, I — I 
think I shall not be afraid to stay with you. 
But I hope Auntie will let you out before 
then.” 

“ No, she will not,” said Charlie, positively. 
“I know she will not.” 

“ Not if I ask her? Not if I tell her that it 
makes me very sad to have you here ?” Rose’s 
voice trembled. 

“ No,” said Charlie, “ I don’t think I shall 
ever come out.” 

“ Oh ! ” cried Rose in horror. “Then we 
shall die here together. We shall starve to 
death like the Babes in the Woods; but there 
will be no Robin Redbreasts to cover us with 
leaves. Oh, Charlie ! Surely Aunt Mary would 
not be so cruel.” 

Charlie could not bear to have any one 


THE DARK ROOM 8i 

think so of his kind mother. “ Mamma is 
not cruel,” he said. “ If I stay here it is my 
own choice. I could come out now, if I chose 
to — to say — something.” 

Rose clapped her hands. “ Oh, say it, say it 
now, Charlie ! ” she cried. 

At that moment a bell rang invitingly from 
downstairs. “ Do say it, Charlie,” she begged. 
“ There is the supper bell, and I am so hungry, 
are n’t you .? ” 

Charlie was very hungry, but he bit his lip 
and answered, “ No, I will not say it.” 

“ Oh, why not ” begged Rose. “ What 
is it that you must say ? Is it so very hard.?” 

“Well, — I must say that I am sorry be- 
cause I pushed you.” Charlie blurted out the 
words with a gulp of shame. 

“ Oh, Charlie ! And you are not sorry .? ” 
Rose pleaded. 

“No, I am not sorry.” 

“ Not a little bit .? ” 

“ No, not one bit.” 

Rose gave a little sigh and sank back in her 


82 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


chair. “ Well, then I s’pose we must stay here 
and be hungry. For of course you must n’t 
say it unless you are really and truly sorry — 
not even for the sake of supper. But oh ! I 
know there is going to be jelly-roll. I saw 
Maggie making it this morning.” 

Charlie kicked the chair hard. “Let’s try 
to think about something else,” went on 
Rose cheerfully ; “ then perhaps we shall for- 
get to be hungry. Let ’s talk about — about 
Carlo.” 

“ Oh, do keep still ! ” grumbled Charlie. “ I 
don’t want to talk at all.” Rose was silent for 
some minutes. Then she began to speak again, 
half to herself. 

“ I think I will go home to-morrow, if I 
don’t starve before that. I will go to Kenneth, 
who will be so glad to see me, even if he is 
sick. Maybe I shall catch the fever and die. 
But that would be better than living where I 
have no little brother to love me. After I am 
gone, Charlie can come out, for of course 
Auntie will not ask him to tell me he is sorry 


THE DARK ROOM 83 

if I am not here to listen. Then Carlo and 
the rabbits and Brindle and the calf will all 
be glad to see Charlie again, and no one will 
miss me, for I am only a silly little girl who 
spoils the beautiful country so that no one is 
happy here any more.” Here Rose gave a 
great sob. Charlie wriggled uncomfortably 
in his chair. 

“ I say. Rose, don’t talk like that. I don’t 
want you to go home. It was n’t your fault. 
I was very bad to you,” he stammered. 

“ But it was my fault, too,” cried Rose 
eagerly. “ I ought not to have said you were 
impolite and horrid. Even when you pushed 
me ” — 

“ I am sorry I did that. Rose,” interrupted 
Charlie quickly. “ I am, truly. I did n’t 
mean to hurt you.” 

Once more the little hand stole around the 
chair-back and crept into his own. Charlie 
did not drop it this time. “You said it!” 
cried Rose. “ Oh, Charlie ! I am so glad 1 
Now we can go down to supper.” 


84 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

Charlie stared. “ Said it ? What do you 
mean ? What have I said ? ” 

‘‘Why, you said It ; that you were sorry,” 
cried Rose, clapping her hands. “ So it is all 
right now.” 

Charlie looked rather silly. “I — I did n’t 
mean to say it,” he faltered. “ I said I would 
never say it, and I meant what I said. But I 
am sorry, and now I am glad I said I was.” 
This sounded very queer, but Rose knew what 
he meant, and was quite satisfied. 

At this moment the door opened and 
Charlie’s mamma appeared, looking anxious. 

“ Oh, here you are. Rose, my child,” she 
said. “ Who would have thought to find 
you here ! I was so worried. We have been 
looking for you all over the place. Have 
you been here all this beautiful afternoon, 
you poor little thing?” She looked reproach- 
fully at Charlie. 

“ I wanted to stay here,” said Rose cheer- 
fully. “ But I am glad it is time to come 
out now.” 


THE DARK ROOM 


85 


“ Come, then, Dearie ; you must be very 
hungry,” said Charlie’s mother, taking Rose’s 
hand and leading her towards the door. But 
Rose hung back, 

“You come too, Charlie,” she smiled. 

“ Mamma,” said Charlie bravely, “ I am 
sorry I was naughty to Rose. I have just told 
her so. She is a bricky and I wish she was 
going to be my truly sister always. For the 
rest of her visit I am going to make her have 
the best time she ever knew.” 

Then the supper bell rang again, anxiously, 
and the two children took hold of hands, 
scampering down the stairs like hungry pup- 
pies when they hear their master’s whistle. 


CHAPTER IX 


THE GARDEN OF LIVE FLOWERS 
FTER Kenneth recovered from the 



1 . X. scarlet fever and Rose came back to 
the city, the Thornton family went away 
for the summer to their island down in Maine, 
which the children loved better than any other 
place in the whole world. 

It was a very wonderful island, and though 
Kenneth and Rose had gone down there as 
many years as they could remember, they were 
continually finding something new which they 
had never seen before. They liked to play 
that it was a desert island and that they were 
Robinson Crusoes who were exploring to see 
what they might find. And they were always 
hoping to come upon a mysterious footprint, 
or something like that. 

One particular day they were scrambling 
about on the rocks, a long way from the foot 


THE GARDEN OF LIVE FLOWERS 87 

of the cliff on which perched their summer 
home. They had never before happened to 
climb down to this particular spot, because it 
was such a steep scramble. From the top of 
the cliff it did not look interesting at all. I 
dare say nobody had ever before been on that 
part of the island, except perhaps the Prout 
children, who lived not far away all the year 
round. It was a bad landing-place ; no boat 
could ever come in from the sea on account 
of the big waves that dashed up on the sharp 
rocks. And nobody would ever have thought 
of scrambling dowm the cliff and over those 
rough boulders unless, like Columbus, he was 
an adventurous explorer looking to see what 
he might find. But you see, that is just what 
Kenneth and Rose were. They were explorers, 
and they had their eyes wide open to see what 
there might be in this new place. 

They hopped over the little rocks and 
climbed over the big ones ; they crawled over 
some and slid down others which were very 
slippery. For the tide had gone out, and here 


88 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


and there the rocks held little pools which 
the sun had not dried. 

There were shells and seaweed and starfish 
in these pools, but the children did not stop 
to gather them, for they had seen others just 
like them often before. They scrambled on 
towards a big, big rock that stood up right 
across the way between the cliff and the 
foamy water. 

“ We can’t go any further,” said Rose. 

“ Oh, we must go further,” answered Ken- 
neth. “ Perhaps there is some big discovery 
just beyond. Why, Rose, supposing Columbus 
had stopped the first time he was discouraged, 
he would never have discovered America. 
And then where should we be now?” 

Rose could nof answer that question. So 
they decided to go on. Kenneth helped Rose 
and Rose helped Kenneth, and they scram- 
bled and climbed and puffed and panted, and 
bumped their knees on the rock, which was 
the hardest one that they had ever climbed. 
But at last they came to the top ; and beyond. 


THE GARDEN OF LIVE FLOWERS 89 


down below, was a flat rock which the tide had 
just washed clean as a spandy floor. 

“ Pooh ! ” said Kenneth. “ I don’t think 
that is very much to find. I hoped there would 
be at least a cave.” 

“ Let ’s go down,” said Rose. “ I think it 
looks nice. See, there is a shelf over the edge. 
Perhaps there is a cave or something under 
this big rock. I want to go down and see.” 

So they began to slide and scramble again ; 
and it is a great deal easier to slide down than 
up, as every one knows. In a very few mo- 
ments Kenneth landed on all fours on the flat 
shelf of rock, and in another minute Rose 
bumped down beside him. And then Rose said 
“Oh!” 

Now perhaps you think that she said “ Oh ! ” 
because she had bumped her little nose on the 
hard rock. But that was not the reason. Rose 
scarcely ever cried, even when she bumped 
herself hard, for she was a brave little girl, the 
nicest kind of a sister for a boy to have. 

No; Rose said “Oh!” because she had 


90 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


made a discovery. There was something under 
the shelf of rock down which they had slid. 
There was a pool of water ; a long, shallow pool 
of sea-water as cold as ice, into which Rose 
had plunged her foot. But that was not all. 
It was a tiny, beautiful sea garden full of 
flowers. 

Kenneth cried “ Oh ! ” too, when he saw 
where Rose was pointing, and in a minute 
the two children were lying flat on their stom- 
achs staring at the wonderful garden. My ! 
But I wish you could have seen how wonder- 
ful it was. I must try to tell you how it looked. 

In the first place, the bottom of the basin, 
the rocky pool in which some of the sea- water 
had been glad to linger when the rest ran away 
with the tide, — this bowl was of a brilliant 
pink, bright as Rose’s own pink cheeks. It 
was covered with a thick painted coating like 
coral, and I suppose some kind of little ani- 
mal like a coral-creature had made it so. In 
the next place, up from the pinkness grew tiny 
plants of seaweed, green and brown and yel- 


THE GARDEN OF LIVE FLOWERS 91 

low, branching and spreading out like little 
trees and bushes, and waving in the water just 
as trees do in the wind. Among the seaweed 
lived pink and purple and yellow starfish and 
little crawling periwinkles carrying their shell 
houses upon their backs. Here and there a 
funny little hermit-crab scuttled busily about, 
keeping tightly hold of the shell which he 
had stolen to be his home. Among the leaves 
of the seaweed trees Rose spied a tiny conger 
eel moving to andfro, waving his fins as though 
they were wings, this queer ocean bird ! 

But what made Kenneth and Rose cry “Oh, 
oh, oh ! ” three times out loud and clap their 
hands with joy, was the living flowers. 

Living flowers ! Y ou have read in fairy- 
hooks about flowers that came alive ? But this 
is no fairy-story, and these flowers were real, 
truly live flowers, — flowers that were happy 
and hungry, that ate and drank and moved, 
opening and closing whenever they chose. 

Some of the flowers were brown, — little 
brown sacks, with a daisy flower growing out of 


92 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


the end, waving its petals to and fro to catch its 
dinner of tiny unseen things that live in the 
water. Some of the flowers were green, some 
were yellowish pink, some pale greenish blue. 
And they were all wide open under the water, 
staring up through it at the blue sky. 

One flower was like ,a little ripe, red straw- 
berry, growing from the roof of the cave ; just 
the size and shape of a juicy strawberry, and 
looking good enough to eat. Each blue flower- 
star had a white centre, and when Rose put her 
little finger down very carefully into this mouth, 
it closed its petals tightly, for it thought it had 
found a nice bit of dinner. It was a funny, 
tickly feeling, and Rose drew away her finger 
quickly, but very gently so as not to hurt the 
sea-flower. Then Kenneth put his finger into 
the mouth of one of the pinkish flowers, and 
the petals did not move. He tickled the 
flower gently, and it seemed to like the feeling, 
which I dare say was as new to the flower as 
the flower was to Kenneth. For the children 
had never before seen a garden of live flowers. 



LIVING FLOWERS 






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THE GARDEN OF LIVE FLOWERS 93 

For a long time they lay and watched the 
wonderful little pool and the beautiful flowers, 
that moved their petals so gracefully in the 
water. And they never noticed that a storm 
was gathering out to sea. But by and by they 
saw that the flowers were closing one by one, 
closing tightly and not opening again. 

“ Why, what makes the flowers go to 
sleep?” cried Rose sorrowfully. “It is not 
night yet, and garden flowers do not close till 
the sun sets.” 

“ It is growing dark,” said Kenneth. 
“There is a cloud coming over the sun.” 

Sure enough ! A heavy cloud rolled over 
the sun, and all the sea-flowers closed their 
eyes tightly, just as earth-flowers do at night. 
Then Kenneth and Rose sat up and looked 
around. My ! They were surprised ! A heavy 
fog was rolling in from sea, and it was going 
to rain very soon. They had been so inter- 
ested in the flowers that they had not thought 
of this. 

“ Oh, it is going to rain ! ” cried Rose. 


94 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


“The flowers have warned us just in time. 
Let us hurry home, Kenneth, before the fog 
shuts down so that we cannot see the way.” 
For they knew how cruel the fogs were about 
the island, so thick and heavy that the fisher- 
men themselves were afraid of being caught 
in them, and of losing the way home. 

The children jumped up and said good-by 
to the beautiful garden. Then they climbed, 
slid, hopped, and scrambled back over the 
rocks towards home, racing with the storm. 
And they reached the house just as the first 
drops of rain began to fall. They rushed up 
onto the piazza, where their mamma was 
looking anxiously for them. 

“ Oh, Mamma,” they cried both together, 
“ we have seen a garden of live flowers.” 

“ Pink and blue and red ! ” cried Rose. 

“And they closed tight so as to let us 
know that the storm was coming,” said Ken- 
neth. 

“What, you have found a pool of sea-ane- 
mones.?” cried their mother, delighted. “I 


THE GARDEN OF LIVE FLOWERS 95 


am so glad ! I did not know there were any 
on this island.” 

“ And will you come with us to-morrow 
to see them ?” begged Rose. “We will show 
you, but it is going to be a great secret. Sh ! 
Don’t let any one hear! ” 

“ I am not a good climber,” said their 
mother, shaking her head. “ I am afraid I 
cannot get down that steep cliff. But you 
must take your Aunt Claire, who is coming 
to-morrow. She will love to go with you, I 
know.” 

“ Oh, is Aunt Claire coming to-morrow ? 
Hurray I ” cried Kenneth. For the children 
thought that their Aunt Claire was great fun. 

“ Oh, yes ! We will take Aunt Claire to see 
the flowers,” said Rose. “ But we must n’t 
tell any one else.” 

“ Y es, you must keep the discovery a great 
secret,” said their mamma. “Some one might 
want to transplant the little flowers, and that 
would be a great pity. You must let them 
live there in their own sea-garden just as they 


96 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

are. But what clever little explorers you were 
to find them ! ” 

And, indeed, it is not every one who can 
discover a garden of live flowers outside a 
fairy-book. But this was nicer than any fairy- 
book, as their Aunt Claire said when Kenneth 
and Rose showed it to her the very next day 
after she came to the island. And she ought 
to know, for she writes fairy-books and tells 
stories better than any one else, so the chil- 
dren think. 


CHAPTER X 


BURIED TREASURE 

O NE day Kenneth and his father went 
out fishing with Captain Prout. Rose 
and Aunt Claire did not care to go, because 
they did not enjoy fishing. But instead they 
decided to spend the morning on the sandy 
beach, not far from the cottage, which was 
a grand play-room and bathing-place for the 
children. It was the only sandy beach on 
that rocky island. 

Rose ran ahead of her Aunt Claire, and as 
soon as she reached the beach she sat down to 
pull off her shoes and stockings. For in this 
lovely play-room she never wore shoes, nor 
even sandals, but ran around with bare toes on 
the smooth, soft floor, making funny little 
tracks just as the sandpipers do. But of course 
Rose’s footprints were larger than their three- 
toed ones. 


98 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


When they reached the beach they saw 
that the tide was very low, and that the sand 
stretched out like a great sheet of paper, 
smooth and white, without a mark upon it, 
from the seaweed line to the water. For it 
was early in the morning, and they were the 
very first persons on the spot. Y esterday they 
had made houses of sand and had dug deep 
wells all up and down the beach. But in the 
night the sea had stolen up and swept every- 
thing smooth again, even wiping out the 
tracks of feet which had crossed and criss- 
crossed it everywhere, — Aunt Claire’s tennis 
shoes, Kenneth’s and Rose’s little bare foot- 
prints, the deep tread of the clam-digger’s 
rubber boots, and the sandpipers’ light steps. 
The beach looked like a field covered with 
newly fallen snow on which nothing has yet 
made a mark. 

Then Aunt Claire, who was always having 
splendid ideas, thought of a lovely game to 
play upon this smooth whiteness. 

“ Oh, Rose,” she cried, “ let us play a new 

























BURIED TREASURE 


99 


kind of hide-and-seek. I will shut my eyes, 
and you take this pretty whirly-shell which 
we found yesterday and hide it somewhere in 
the sand. Then I will try to find it by fol- 
lowing the track of your bare feet.” 

“Oh, goodie!” said Rose, clapping her 
hands. “That is a nice game. Play I am a 
pirate going to hide my treasure in the ground, 
and you are another pirate hunting for it. 
Blind your eyes. Auntie. Blind them tight, 
and don’t you peek I ” 

Aunt Claire blinded her eyes and waited 
until she heard Rose call, “ Coo I ” like a 
pirate. Then she looked up, and Rose was 
standing in the deep, soft sand not very far 
away. But Aunt Claire knew that she had 
not hidden the treasure so near. Oh, no 1 
Rose was too sly a pirate to do that. 

Aunt Claire peered all around very carefully, 
and finally she spied the marks of little bare 
toes in the sand near the spot where Rose had 
stood when they first began to play. And she 
followed the tracks down to the water and 
LOF', 


100 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


up again, winding about in the funniest way, 
— something like this : — 



Up and down and round about, twisting 
in and out, went the funny little marks, till 
Aunt Claire’s head whirled dizzily. Rose 
clapped her hands and laughed to see her 
trying to set her tennis shoes exactly in the 
track of those crazy wanderings. But at last, 
close by the water’s edge. Aunt Claire saw a 
little something which rose up like a bump 
on the sand ; and about it were the marks 
of finger-scrapings. She stooped down and 
dug with her fingers, and soon she cried : “ I 
spy ! ” and held up the pretty shell which 
Rose had hidden. “ The treasure is found! ” 
said Aunt Claire. “ But what a search you 
made for me, wicked Pirate 1 ” 

“ It is a lovely game,” said Rose, hopping 


BURIED TREASURE 


101 


up and down with excitement. “ Now you 
hide. Aunt Claire.” Rose put her hands over 
her eyes, and her auntie came back to the 
soft sand in order to start fair on a smooth 
piece of beach. Pretty soon she cried, “ Coo! ” 
And the marks of her shoes looked some- 
thing like this : — 



“ Oh, I never, never can find the treasure 
in all that whirly-whirly ! ” cried Rose, shak- 
ing her curls like a Skye terrier. And in- 
deed, it looked very hard. But Rose walked 
right along in the big prints of her auntie’s 
shoes, and without much trouble she found 
the shell where it was hidden in the middle 
of the whirly-figure. 

“ That was a good hide,” she said. 

They played the pirate game for a long time, 
until the sand was covered up and down with 


102 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


the strangest patterns, and there was hardly 
room for a fresh footprint anywhere ; for this 
was not a large beach. 

“We shall have to stop, now, I suppose,” 
said Rose with a sigh, “and wait until Mr. 
Sea has washed out all our marks with his 
ocean sponge. See, he is creeping up and has 
begun already. To-morrow the beach will be 
all smooth and white again so that we can 
show Kenneth how to play buried treasure, 
too.” 

“ Let us play just once more,” said Aunt 
Claire. “ It is my turn to hide the treasure, 
and I think I can find a place which will not 
be too hard, all among these markings. Blind 
your eyes, little Pirate.” 

“All right,” said Rose, who was a very 
good-natured pirate. And she closed her 
eyes. 

Now there was not much smooth sand for 
Aunt Claire to walk in, but she managed to 
go up and down the beach in a funny parallel- 
lined pattern, like this : — 


BURIED TREASURE 


103 



And when she called, “Coo,” Rose started off 
upon the trail, laughing every time she turned 
the sharp corner and came back upon the long 
stretch up or down. 

At last she came to the little bubbly mound 
in the sand where Aunt Claire had hidden the 
treasure. She stooped over and her yellow 
curls swept the sand as she thrust in all her ten 
fingers with a shout of triumph. Presently she 
jumped up with the treasure in her hand and 
stood still, examining it curiously. Then she 
gave a squeal of joy and came racing up the 
beach to her auntie, with her curls flying 
madly. 

“ Why, Aunt Claire,” she cried, “ it is a 
really, truly treasure, this time! See what was 
hidden inside the whirly-shell ! ” and she held 
up a bright ten-cent piece which she had 
pulled out of the little treasure-box. 


104 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

“ So there is,” said her auntie. “ I wonder 
how it got there ? ” 

Rose looked at Aunt Claire and laughed. 
“ I like this game ; very specially the end of 
it,” she said. “Now what shall we do next. 
Auntie ?” 

“We can’t play here any more,” said Aunt 
Claire. “ The beach is so marked up that if 
a pirate should hide his treasure here he might 
never be able to find it again. I would not 
risk mine, if I were you.” 

“ No, I suppose I had better not,” said Rose, 
shaking her head. “ I think I ought to keep 
the money for the game to-morrow, should 
n’t I, Auntie?” she added, rather wistfully. 

“ Oh, no ! ” said Aunt Claire. “ A pirate 
would never do that. You must go up to the 
store and change it for merchandise. That is 
what pirates always did in the old days.” 

“ What is merchandise ? ” asked Rose 
brightening. Then with a sudden thought, 
“Is candy merchandise?” And Aunt Claire 
said that it was. 


BURIED TREASURE 


105 


“ Well, then, you must come with me to 
the store and share,” said Rose, pulling her 
auntie hy the hand. And away both pirates 
went to the little village store which was about 
a mile from the cottage. 

“ I think it is lovely to be a pirate ! ” cried 
Rose, as she danced along the road with the 
ten-cent piece in her hand. “ I am going to 
be a pirate every single day.” 

“ Oh, not every day,” said her auntie, in 
dismay. “The pirates did not go pirating 
every day, or there would not have been treas- 
ure enough to last. They did other things 
between whiles.” 

“ I suppose they could n’t go pirating when 
it rained,” said Rose thoughtfully. “ Perhaps 
it may rain to-morrow.” 

And it did. 


CHAPTER XI 


THE PIECED BABY 

F or a long time Rose had been wanting a 
little sister. Kenneth was the very best 
brother that ever lived, and they had beauti- 
ful times playing together. But Kenneth was 
growing to be a big boy, and he liked a great 
many things that Rose did not enjoy, — fish- 
ing, for instance, which made her very ill. 
And there were things which Rose liked that 
Kenneth would not play with her. Rose 
thought if only she had a little sister they two 
would like just the same sort of things. They 
could play dolls together, and house, and tea- 
party, and have the most beautiful times when 
Kenneth was away doing something very 
different. ' 

Rose had waited a long time for the little 
sister. She had spoken to her papa and mamma 


THE PIECED BABY 


107 


about it months before, and they had said that 
perhaps some time there would come a little 
sister for her. Rose thought that Christmas 
would be a very nice time for the sister to 
come. But although Santa Claus was very kind 
and had brought two little kittens to Chris- 
tine, the Christmas cat, and had brought Alice, 
her beautiful new doll, to Rose herself, there 
had been no baby sister in mamma’s stock- 
ing nor in papa’s. 

Rose was almost tired of waiting. She 
wanted the little sister so much that one morn- 
ing, when Kenneth had gone to dig clams with 
Captain Prout, she cried all by herself out in 
the woods behind the house, — cried as if her 
heart would break. Her Aunt Claire found 
her there, and asked her what was the matter. 
Then Rose told her all about it. 

“ Have you asked the fairies to help you ?” 
said Aunt Claire sympathetically. Rose said 
that she had forgotten to do that. 

“Well, I would do so, if I were you,” said 
Aunt Claire gravely. “ One never knows what 


io8 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


may happen if you can only get the fairies to 
help.” 

Rose thought over what her auntie had said 
all that day, and she resolved to ask the fairies 
to help her at the very first chance she had. 
She sometimes saw them, when she woke up 
between dreams at night, and she hoped that 
very soon she should meet her friends again. 
It happened sooner than she expected. 

That very night, when she had not been 
asleep very long, she was suddenly awakened 
by a little silvery laugh. And when she 
opened her eyes to see what had laughed, 
there in the moonlight at the foot of her 
bed stood a beautiful Fairy in a silver dress. 

“Why, Rose, what are you crying about ? ” 
said the Fairy. 

“Was I crying?” said Rose. “I did not 
know it.” 

“Yes,” said the Fairy. “You were crying 
in your sleep, sobbing so hard that I heard 
you away off in Fairyland. So I knew some- 
thing very sad must be troubling you, and I 


> 



AWAKENED BY A LITTLE SILVERY LAUGH 



’ s 

y, 












THE PIECED BABY 109 

came just as quickly as I could to my little 
friend. What is it. Rose ? What is the mat- 
ter ? ” 

The Fairy spoke so kindly that Rose began 
to cry again. 

“Oh, I do so want a little sister!” she 
sobbed. 

“ Well, why don’t you go about to get 
one ? ” asked the Fairy. 

“ I don’t know how,” said Rose, blinking 
the tears in wonder. “ Where can I find one, 
dear Fairy ? ” 

“You can’t find a whole baby,” said the 
Fairy, “but you must gather her in little pieces. 
Then perhaps my fairies will put her together 
for you, like a patchwork quilt.” 

“I never heard of such a thing ! ” exclaimed 
Rose indignantly. “ I don’t want a pieced 
little sister, I want a nice whole one.” 

“ Oh, very well,” returned the Fairy Queen 
carelessly, “ but I ’ll tell you a secret. They 
are all pieced that way, though nobody knows 
it. The seams never show, we take such fine. 


1 10 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


fine stitches. But the pieces must be care- 
fully chosen. Have n’t you noticed how some 
babies have a nose which does n’t belong with 
the chin, or unmatched eyes, or ears which 
are not a truly pair ? You must do better than 
that. Rose. You must choose carefully, so that 
your little sister will be symmetrical and even, 
— the same on both sides.” 

“ Oh, can I really do it.? ” cried Rose eagerly, 
sitting up in bed. “ When may I begin ? ” 

“ Begin now,” said the Fairy. “ I suppose 
you would like to have the little sister as soon 
as possible ? ” 

“ I would like her to-morrow ! ” cried 
Rose, jumping out of bed. “ But how shall 
I begin ? Will you not help me ? ” 

“ I cannot help you to collect the pieces,” 
answered the Fairy, “ but I will give you a 
hint. You might begin with a face ior yoxiv 
little sister ; and why not go to the clock for 
that .? ” So saying the Fairy suddenly disap- 
peared. 

“ Go to the clock ! ” Rose gasped, “ how 


THE PIECED BABY 


III 


very strange ! ” Then she looked up at the 
tall old clock that faced her bed, and in the 
moonlight the face seemed to be smiling at 
her. “ It ’s a queer face for a baby sister to 
have,” thought Rose, “ but the Fairy ought 
to know. I will begin as she told me.” So 
she peeled the pillowcase from her pillow to 
make a good big bag for the pieces which 
she was to collect. Then she went up to the 
clock and said politely, — for he was an old 
friend of hers, — “ Please, Clock, I want your 
face to begin a baby sister.” Then she took 
off the face and put it in the bottom of the 
pillowcase bag. 

“ Now what must my little sister have 
next ? ” wondered Rose. “ Eyes, of course ! 
But where shall I find eyes ? ” Just then her 
own eyes happened to spy the pincushion on 
the bureau. “ To be sure ! Needles have eyes. 
I will borrow two for my sister.” And into 
the bundle went two needles. But Rose was 
careful that they should be just alike, as the 
Fairy had warned. 


II2 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


“Now I want a nose” thought Rose. “ What 
has a nose.? Oh — a kettle.” And very quietly, 
so as not to waken any one in the house, she 
ran down into the kitchen, took the nose 
from the teakettle, and put that in the bag. 

“ A mouth; I must have a mouth next. Oh, 
yes, a bottle has a mouth,” said Rose. She 
found one in the pantry, and its round mouth 
went into the bundle with the eyes and nose. 
But there must be a tongue to go in the mouth. 
Rose thought and thought ; but at last she 
remembered that there was a tongue in her 
shoe, and that was added to the collection. 

“What about a head? She needs that for 
her face, her eyes and nose and mouth ; I for- 
got her head ! ” cried Rose. “ Let me think. 
Why, yes, a head of lettuce, — that is what 
I want.” And because it was summer, warm 
and pleasant out of doors. Rose skipped right 
out in her nightie and bare feet. The vege- 
table garden was behind the house, and there 
Rose picked out a round head of lettuce, 
which she added to her funny bundle. 


THE PIECED BABY 


“3 


The garden made her think of something 
else. The baby must have ears, and where 
should one look for ears if not in the corn- 
field ? So away she tripped to the cornfield, 
where for weeks she had been watching the 
ears of corn grow plumper every day. Here 
she carefully selected two pretty ears, just 
alike. 

“ And now the little sister is ready and 
trimmed as far as her neck,” thought Rose. 
“And for a neck, I know where I can find 
that. Mamma’s white vase on the parlor 
mantel has a beautiful neck.” So back to 
the house went Rose, and soon into the bun- 
dle with the other things went the white 
vase. 

“ Now let me see, baby must have a body. 
What is there that has a body ? The body of 
a — the body of a — what have I heard ? The 
body of a wagon ; yes, that is it ! But I can’t 
take Papa’s big wagon. A little one will be 
nicer for a baby. I will take the body of Ken- 
neth’s express wagon,” and Rose pattered 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


1 14 

softly to Kenneth’s room, where the little red 
cart went into the fast-growing bundle. 

N ext Rose took the arms of a sofa, two legs 
of a chair, and two feet of a table. Then she 
went back to her own little room. “You poor 
old clock,” she said to her now faceless friend, 
“ I must rob you again. Please, I want your two 
hands for my little sister.” And the clock had 
to give her his hands, whether he could spare 
them or not. Then Rose remembered that 
the baby must have nails on her hands and feet. 
So she tiptoed very softly into Mamma’s room 
and got twenty nails from the little carpenter’s 
chest which Mamma kept in her closet. 

By this time the pillowcase had grown very 
heavy and hard to carry, like Santa Claus’s 
wonderful pack. Moreover, Rose was tired, 
for she had been roaming around for a long 
time collecting the pieces of her little sister. 

“ I think I must have everything now,” she 
sighed, sitting down on the edge of her bed. 
“ Such a funny bundle ! I hope little Sister 
will not look very queer with all these strange 


THE PIECED BABY 


“5 


kinds of features and things. I wish the Queen 
of the Fairies would come and tell me what 
to do next.” 

Just at that moment Rose blinked and 
stopped talking, for in at the window on a ray 
of moonlight came walking the Fairy Queen 
herself. She smiled at Rose and nodded when 
she saw the big bundle. 

“ Good ! ” she said. “ You have done well. 
I hope that you have n’t forgotten anything, 
for that would be awkward.” Rose shook her 
head positively. “Very well,” went on the 
Fairy, “ now empty out your bundle upon the 
floor at the foot of the bed, put the pillow- 
case on the pillow and go to sleep. As soon 
as your eyes are closed tight I will see what 
my fairies can do with the pieces which you 
have collected. But mind, you must not 
peep.” 

“ No, I promise not to peep,” said Rose, 
and obediently she went to bed and closed 
her eyes tight, and before she knew it she 
was sound asleep. 


ii6 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

Rose slept and slept and slept, later than 
usual. And it was not until the old clock 
called out, “ One, two, three, four, five, six, 
seven, eight ! ” that she opened her eyes with 
a pop and stared at him hard. How could a 
clock speak without a face? But there the old 
fellow stood, smiling at her as usual, with his 
hands pointing up and down quite correctly. 

“ Then it was only a dream after all ! ” 
sighed Rose, and there were two tears in her 
eyes as she thought of the little sister whom 
she had hoped to see this morning. “ There 
was n’t any Fairy Queen, and I did n’t go about 
last night collecting eyes and ears and hands 
for a new baby. Oh, dear ! Oh, dear ! ” 

Just then there was a knock on the door, 
and Papa came into the room. “ Wake up, 
my little Rose,” he said, “and see what I 
have to show you here ! Something came in 
the night, something new and nice that you 
have wanted for a long time.” 

“ Oh, Papa,” gasped Rose, “ what is it ? 
Not a — not a little sister?” 


THE PIECED BABY 117 

Papa looked surprised. “ Why, how did 
you guess. Rose ? ” he asked. “ That is just 
what it is.” And he beckoned to Eliza, Rose’s 
own old nurse, who came into the room with 
a tiny bundle in her arms. And there, wrapped 
in soft flannel, was the pinkest, prettiest, cun- 
ningest little baby you ever saw ! 

“ Oh, Papa ! ” cried Rose, clapping her 
hands. “ It was n’t a dream after all. I did 
collect the pieces. Oh, I am so glad! ” 

Papa looked puzzled, but Rose had no 
time now to explain about the Fairy Queen. 
She was too busy examining the little pink 
bundle to see if it was all there as she had 
planned. Yes, there were the eyes and ears, 
the little hands and nails, all quite evenly 
matched. This was no crooked, carelessly 
patched baby, this little sister of Rose’s. The 
fairies had smoothed out all the pieces and 
made them beautiful, and, as the Queen had 
promised, there was not one seam to show 
how it had been done. Oh, how proud Rose 
was of the dear little nose and the pink mouth ! 


ii8 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

Suddenly her face clouded. The baby had 
opened its pink mouth wide to let out a 
babyish howl, and Rose saw a dreadful sight. 
There was not a single tooth there ! 

“ Oh, oh ! ” cried Rose, “ I forgot her 
teeth. And there was my comb lying on the 
bureau conveniently all the time. Oh, how 
careless I was ! Poor little Sister ! ” and she 
burst out crying. 

Nurse and Papa assured Rose that it was 
quite fashionable for a baby to be toothless at 
first ; that the little sister’s teeth would come 
soon enough. But Rose could not believe it. 
She felt sure that she had spoiled the baby, 
who would never be quite finished like other 
children. It was only when, some months 
later. Papa and Nurse turned out to be right 
and Rose felt the little hard teeth pushing 
through the baby’s gums that she became 
quite happy and relieved. 

“ I think that this was the Fairy’s doings, 
too ! ” said Rose. And indeed, that did not 
seem more wonderful than the fact which 


THE PIECED BABY 119 

Rose could never explain, — that no one had 
missed the nose of the teakettle, nor the neck 
of Mamma’s ^vhite vase, nor any of the other 
things which Rose had collected to piece the 
baby. For, like the clock’s hands and face, 
they were all in place as usual the very next 
morning after that exciting night. But, as 
Aunt Claire said, of course it is useless trying 
to explain anything which has to do with the 
fairies. Is it not so ? 


CHAPTER XII 


THE ALARM 


NE day Captain Prout said to Kenneth, 



“How’d ye like to go out with me 
to-morrow morning to catch bait for my lob- 
ster traps? We ’ll have to start early, — right 
early for a little city feller like you. What do 
you say to four o’clock ? ” 

“ Oh, I can get up at four o’clock just as 
easily as at seven,” said Kenneth proudly; “of 
course I will go with you. Captain Prout.” 

The Captain chuckled. “ ’T ain’t so easy 
as you think, to git up at sunrise, when you 
ain’t used to it,” he said; “ but you kin set an 
alarm, I guess. Y ou ask your father, an’ if he 
says you can go, I ’ll take you off from the 
beach in my boat to-morrow morning at four- 
fifteen ; that is, pervided you ’re there. Sonny.” 

Of course he would be there ! Kenneth 
asked his father if he might go, and Mr. 


THE ALARM 


121 


Thornton was quite willing, for he knew that 
Captain Prout would be careful of the little 
boy. Kenneth did not tell his father how 
early he must start. But without troubling 
any one he set the alarm clock at four, and 
put it under the bed, so that it would be sure 
to waken him in due season. 

Now, very early the next morning, when 
every one in the Thornton cottage was sleep- 
ing soundly, two little figures came walking 
up through the woods towards the back door. 
The little boy carried a pail of milk, and the 
little girl walked beside him, and they looked 
something like the children whom you see 
in the full moon, — Jack and Jill. But these 
were not Jack and Jill. They were Tommy 
and Mary Prout, Captain Prout’s twins, and 
it happened to be their turn to bring the milk 
that morning to the Thornton cottage for 
Kenneth’s and Rose’s breakfast. I don’t know 
what Kenneth and Rose would have done if 
the little Prouts had forgotten to come with 
the milk. But they never forgot, not once, 


122 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


all summer. There were six of them — three 
hoys and three girls — and every morning in 
July and August, whether it rained or shone, 
two of them came two miles from Lobster 
Cove with the milk. And they came very 
early, — so early that no one in the cottage 
ever saw them do it. They were glad of this, 
for they were very bashful. Whenever they 
were out in the woods or along the shore and 
heard any one coming, they always scuttled 
away and hid like little frightened animals. 

Sometimes Kenneth and Rose spied one or 
two of these children running away through 
the woods, but they had scarcely ever seen 
their faces, and did not know one from 
another. They called them just “ the little 
Prouts,” and thought them very queer. 

But the little Prouts knew Kenneth and 
Rose much better. They often watched them 
from a distance, when Kenneth and Rose did 
not know. And they thought the Thornton 
children the most wonderful creatures that 
ever lived, and their toys and their doings the 



THEY WERE TOMMY AND MARY PROUT 


,« 5 ' 





















THE ALARM 


123 


finest ever known. For you see, the little 
Prouts had no toys of their own, and were very 
different from Kenneth and Rose in every 
way, except in being little brothers and sis- 
ters. 

Tommy and Mary, who were just the age of 
Kenneth, came stealing very quietly through 
the woods with the pail of milk, which they 
carried around to the back door and set upon 
the step, ready for Katie to take it when she 
came down to get breakfast. They had done 
their errand, and now were they not ready 
to tramp home.? Oh, no! They stood for a 
minute listening, to be sure that no one was 
stirring in the cottage, and then very softly 
they tiptoed around to the front of the house, 
where the broad piazza was. Sometimes the 
city children left their toys all night out on 
the piazza. The little Prouts knew this, for 
they had often before done just this same thing 
in the early morning after their long tramp 
with the milk. 

It was such a fine night that Rose had 


124 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


swung her doll’s hammock on the piazza, and 
Alice, her beautiful new doll, was sleeping 
here very sweetly. Rose had heard that it 
was good for children to sleep in the open air. 
Kenneth had left his express wagon and his 
rocking-horse out here, too. 

The little Prouts stood at the foot of the 
piazza steps, staring up at these wonderful 
things. 

At last Mary Prout reached out her hand 
and touched her brother. “Ain’t I dream- 
ing?” she said. “No, I ain’t. But Tommy! 
Ain’t they beautiful ! ” 

Tommy took a step towards the piazza and 
paused, listening. There was no sound in the 
house. “Let’s go up,” he whispered. “No 
one will ever know. Come on.” 

The two children stole noiselessly up the 
steps and crept over the piazza to the sheltered 
nook where the toys were safe from the dew. 
Mary sank down on her knees beside Alice. 
“Oh, oh!” she breathed. “ I never saw any- 
thing so beautiful 1 ” 


THE ALARM 


125 


Tommy was looking eagerly at the rock- 
ing horse. “ Oh, how I wish ’t I dared ride 
on him, just once ! ” he thought. He reached 
out his hand to stroke the mane of the beau- 
tiful creature, the like of which he had never 
before seen. And at the same moment Mary 
stretched a trembling hand towards Alice’s 
golden curls. Think of having a doll like that 
for your very own, to kiss and play with, and 
carry around wherever you went ! If only she 
might have it in her arms just once, Mary felt 
that she should be happy all the rest of her 
days. 

But just at that moment there came a ter- 
rible sound, “ Pr-r-r-jingle-j angle ! P-r-r-r-r ! 
Jang-jang ! ” In the stillness it seemed to 
sound louder than the loudest thunder. Tom- 
my started as if he had been shot. Poor Mary 
drew back her hand as if Alice’s yellow curls 
had burned them, “ Pr-r-r-jang-jang ! ” The 
dreadful noise continued, and it came from 
inside the house. 

With one frightened leap Tommy and Mary 


126 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


were down the piazza steps. Casting one wild 
look behind to see if they were being followed 
by the terrible creature that was growling to 
warn and punish them for daring to touch 
those precious treasures, they fled away like 
foxes across the garden and into the woods at 
the back of the house. Poor little frightened 
things ! They thought that their early morn- 
ing secret had been discovered, and never 
again would they dare to venture near that 
piazza which was the only fairyland that they 
knew. 

Meanwhile what was going on inside the 
house “ Pr-r-r-jang-jang ! ” The alarm clock 
still buzzed away fiercely. Kenneth had 
wound it up as far as it would go, and for 
several minutes the bell rang, until every one 
in the house, except Kenneth himself, was 
wide awake. 

Papa and Mamma woke up instantly. Mrs. 
Thornton’s first thought was about the new 
baby. “Oh, John ! ” she cried, “ has anything 
happened to the baby ? Do call Eliza.” 


THE ALARM 


127 


Mr. Thornton was already out of bed. “ It 
can’t be burglars,” he said, “ for we have n’t 
any burglars down here on the island, nor any 
burglar alarm, either. Don’t be frightened. 
I will go and look through the house.” 

In the hall he met Aunt Claire and the 
servants, shivering in their wrappers. “ Oh, 
John,” cried Aunt Claire, “ is the house afire ? 
I certainly heard a fire-alarm.” 

“Nonsense!” said Mr. Thornton. “It 
must be some one pulling the door-bell.” But 
when he went down to open the door, with 
the servants following in a frightened, hud- 
dled group, there was no one waiting outside. 
The piazza was empty. Only Alice swung 
peacefully in her hammock, seeming not the 
least frightened. 

“ It is very strange,” muttered Mr. Thorn- 
ton. “ It certainly seemed to me inside the 
house.” 

In the hall outside the nursery he met old 
Eliza, the nurse. 

“ Have you been into Master Kenneth’s 


128 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


room ? ” she asked. “ I thought the noise 
came from there, though I don’t see how it 
could be so,” 

“ It can’t be, of course,” said Mr. Thorn- 
ton, but he went into Kenneth’s room, where 
the boy was still sleeping soundly. It was just 
at this moment that Kenneth at last woke up. 

“ What is the matter ” he murmured, 
blinking sleepily. “ What is the matter. 
Papa?” 

“We heard a bell ring,” said his father, 
“and Eliza thought that it came from here. 
Did you hear it ? ” 

“No, Papa,” said Kenneth drowsily, “I 
did n’t hear any bell,” and turning over he 
went fast asleep again. It was a quarter past 
four, and Captain Prout was just rowing away 
from the beach, where he had looked in vain 
for his little passenger. 

“ I knew he would forgit to come ! ” he 
chuckled. 

From Kenneth’s room Mr. Thornton went 
to Rose’s. He found her standing by the 


THE ALARM 


129 


window in her little blue wrapper, looking 
out towards the woods. 

“ Oh, Papa, what is it .? ” she said eagerly. 
“ Do you think it was the fairies ? ” 

“Fairies? Why, what makes you think it 
was fairies ?” asked Mr. Thornton, “ though 
I must confess that I don’t know what else it 
could have been.” 

“ I looked out of the window,” said Rose, 
“ and I saw two little creatures run into the 
woods as fast as they could go. One was a 
little girl and one was a little boy, and I think 
they were fairies who had been ringing our 
door-bell.” 

“ Pooh-pooh ! Fairies don’t ring door- 
bells,” said her father. “ And at this time in 
the morning it is n’t likely that any of the 
island children were ringing our bell and run- 
ning away, as the naughty boys do in the city 
sometimes. I don’t understand it at all. But 
the noise has stopped, so let us finish our naps, 
as Kenneth is doing. He is the wisest of us 
all, not to bother his head about it.” 


130 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

And so they all went back to bed and slept 
soundly until breakfast time. 

At the breakfast table the first thing Ken- 
neth said was, — 

“Oh, goodness me! I was going to fish 
with Captain Prout at four o’clock in the 
morning. But I did n’t wake up. How he 
will laugh at me 1 But why did n’t my alarm 
clock go off?” 

Alarm clockV' said his father. “So you 
set the alarm, did you ? Well, that accounts 
for everything. What a sleepy head you are, 
Kenneth 1 ” 

Yes, that accounted for everything, except 
for Rose’s fairies. They never were accounted 
for. And indeed, those poor little fairies never 
again dared visit that scene of their terrible 
early-morning alarm. 


CHAPTER XIII 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

T he summer passed away only too 
quickly, as summers do, and almost be- 
fore the children knew it the fall had come, 
and it was time to go back to the city to school. 
It was very hard for Kenneth and Rose to leave 
the island, with all its beautiful playgrounds 
and wonderful playthings, so different from 
what one has in the city. And yet it was 
pleasant to be back in the city, too, to see all 
their little friends again, and to begin new 
studies at school. Kenneth and Rose soon for- 
got to long for the beach, and the rocks, and 
the woods behind their little summer home, 
they were so happy in their other home in the 
city. They scarcely ever thought of the island 
nowadays, and when they did it seemed very 
far away and unreal, almost like an island in 
a dream. They forgot that' there were people 


132 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


still living there to whom this was the only 
home ; people who would be there all through 
the long winter, when the rough winds would 
sweep through those evergreen trees, whew! 
so loudly, and the waves would dash up over 
the bare rocks, splash! so fiercely, while all 
the island lay cold and dreary and deserted, 
wrapped in a blanket of snow. 

One rainy Saturday morning Mrs. Thorn- 
ton was dusting the shelves in the playroom 
closet, where the children’s books lived. 
“Oh, dear!” she sighed, “It is such a bother 
to take care of all these old magazines I I 
wish I knew some one who would like these 
papers after you children have finished read- 
ing them.” 

“All the other children have more books 
of their own than they can read,” said Ken- 
neth. 

“I know it,” said his mother. “But there 
might be some one who would be so glad to 
have the pictures and stories, if only we could 
know.” 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


133 


Rose was playing with her dolls in the 
window-seat, when she had a sudden idea. 

“ Mamma ! ” she cried, clapping her hands. 
“Why can’t we send them away off down 
to the island where the little Prouts live? 
Don ’t you think the little Prouts would like 
the magazines?” 

“That is a good idea. Rose,” said her 
mother. “I fancy the poor little things never 
see a magazine. They will be sure to like 
the pictures, anyway, whether they can read 
or not. I wonder if any of them can read?” 

“ I don’t know what their names are,” 
said Rose, “but there are ever so many of 
them, boys and girls. Mamma, I should like 
to send my magazine to the little girl Prouts.” 

“ And I will send mine to the Prout boys,” 
said Kenneth promptly. “Won’t they be 
glad to see it coming, every week?” 

“Yes, indeed they will,” said Mrs. Thorn- 
ton. “And you must be sure not to disap- 
point them. If you are going to send the 
magazines at all, I want you to do it regu- 


134 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


larly, every week. It will be a good practice 
lesson in remembering. Promise not to forget, 
children, if I let you send the papers this 
time?” 

“We promise. Mamma, we promise,” said 
Kenneth and Rose. And that promise was the 
beginning of a very interesting thing. 

Every week after that, when they had 
finished reading their two magazines, Ken- 
neth and Rose rolled them up, each in brown 
stamped wrapper, and Rose wrote on hers in 
big letters, “The Misses Prout,” and Kenneth 
wrote on his “The Masters Prout,” and they 
sent them away down to the island in Maine. 
It was n’t much trouble to do that. But my ! 
you should have seen what pleasure it gave 
the little Prouts. 

All the year round, in summer and in 
winter, too, the little Prouts lived with their 
father. Captain Prout, in a tiny cottage on 
the island, close beside the sea. It was a very 
nice place in the summer; for then, like Ken- 
neth and Rose, they were happy all day long. 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 135 

playing out of doors, .fishing and picking ber- 
ries. But best of all, they enjoyed carrying 
the milk to the Thornton cottage on the cliff, 
two miles away. For then they sometimes 
had a peep at the wonderful things which the 
strangers had brought to the island, and at 
the two children playing at games which were 
so different from any ever before seen there- 
about. The little Prouts used almost to quar- 
rel over their turns to carry the milk. 

But in the fall the summer people sailed 
away. Then the little Prouts went to school 
for a time, as they did in the spring ; and that 
was pleasant, too. But in the winter there was 
no school, because of the cold and the deep 
snow, and the long road which the island 
children had to travel to the schoolhouse in 
the village. Also it was hard to get a teacher 
for these bitter winter months. The winters 
were lonely enough for the little Prouts. They 
seldom saw any other children, and there 
was not much for them to do except house- 
work and patchwork and knitting, and help- 


136 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

ing father to mend nets and make lobster-pots 
for the next summer. 

The little Prouts had few playthings. They 
hardly knew what playthings were. They 
had seen Kenneth’s express wagon and rock- 
ing horse, and Rose’s beautiful dolls on the 
piazza of the cottage. They had almost dared 
to touch the wonderful things one early morn- 
ing ; but a terrible alarm had warned them 
away, so they knew that these marvelous and 
lovely things were not meant for children 
like themselves. They thought that the city 
people were a different kind of creature. 

Tom and Mary and Susan knew how to 
read, but they had no books. On the island 
people did not read much, because there were 
no books. In some houses there was not even 
a Bible. There was no public library. There 
was no Sunday-school library, for there was 
not even a church on the island. In summer 
a minister came there to spend his vacation, 
and he preached every Sunday on the hill-top 
near the village. But in winter every one. 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 137 

even the minister, seemed to forget the island. 
The little Fronts were very ignorant, and they 
wondered if the Lord himself forgot the 
island in tha dreary months of snow and cold. 

“Of course He forgets,” said Tommy, 
when they were talking about it one day. 
“ He lives in the city, and comes down here 
only in the summer, just as the city people 
do.” 

“ But He must remember us,” sighed little 
Polly. “The minister said He was our 
Father.” 

“Pooh!” said Tommy scornfully. “He 
ain’t our Father, either I You know he ain’t. 
He is their Father in heaven. I heard them 
talking to Him, one day, on the hill.” 

“But the minister said He was everybody’s 
Father, Tommy,” answered Mary wistfully. 

“ But how can He be ?” argued Tommy. 
“He is the Father of Kenneth and Rose 
Thornton, and of people like them who live 
in the city. He can’t be our Father, too ; for 
if He was, we should be the brothers and 


138 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

sisters of Kenneth and Rose. And you know 
we ain’t that.” 

“ Oh, no ! We ain’t that ! ” echoed all the 
little Prouts sadly, and then they were silent 
for a long time. The little girls sighed, 
and their lips trembled. They admired Rose 
Thornton more than anybody they had ever 
seen. Many and many a time when Rose did 
not know it, the little Prout girls were peep- 
ing at her from behind some big tree in the 
woods or rock on the shore; wondering at 
her long, golden curls and at her pretty, pink 
skin, which never seemed to grow brown and 
rough like theirs, and at the simple little 
dresses, which seemed wonderfully beautiful 
to them. Rose’s blue cambric frock with the 
red leather belt and red hair-ribbon was their 
favorite. 

The Prout boys thought that Kenneth was 
the most wonderful person, with his bicycle 
and his Indian suit and bow and arrows. 
But they never dreamed of speaking to Rose 
or to Kenneth. They were ashamed even to 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


139 


be seen by them, and always ran away and 
hid, especially after that terrible morning of 
the early alarm. Oh, no ! Of course these 
children could not be their brothers and 
sisters ! 

It was at the end of that very same day, 
the longest, dreariest day of early winter, 
when the little Fronts had agreed that the 
Father had forgotten the island, that the 
magazines began to come. Tim Parks drove 
four miles from the village to bring them, he 
was so curious to know who could have been 
sending things to “ The Masters Front ” and 
“The Misses Front.” For no one had ever 
before sent any mail to the Front family. 
These were postmarked from the city, too ! 

“ Something for the Masters Front, and 
something for the Misses Front ! ” he called 
out as he pushed open the door. “ I thought 
I ’d jest bring ’em over for ye.” And he 
handed the packages to Tommy and Mary. 

What an excitement there was then ! They 
tore open the wrappers, and behold ! A boy’s 


140 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


magazine and a girl’s magazine, full of pic- 
tures and stories. The children danced around, 
shouting and laughing. Somebody had sent 
them papers from the city ! They were not 
quite forgotten ! 

“ Who sent ’em ? That is what I want to 
know,” said Tim Parks. 

But there was no word or scrap of writing 
to tell, and Tim could not find out what he 
longed to know. 

“ Wall, I guess they jest came from the 
magazine shop,” said Tim at last, as he went 
out of the door. But the children looked at 
one another. They knew better. 

“ You said He had forgotten, and He sent 
these to show He has n’t,” whispered Mary 
to Tom. And the children looked at the 
papers with a feeling of awe and pride. 

What continued joy there was for the little 
Prouts in those generous pages ! Mary and 
Tom read every word aloud to the others, 
and to the whole family ; for the father and 
mother were as much interested as the chil- 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 141 

dren. There was a continued story, and that 
was the most exciting of all. For it was one 
of the best stories that Aunt Claire had ever 
written. But, alas ! it stopped short at the 
most thrilling part. 

“ Oh, dear ! ” cried Mary, when she had 
read the last word aloud to her big-eyed 
audience. “ Why does it stop ? Now we shall 
never know how the Princess got out of 
the Giant’s castle ! ” 

Those papers lasted the little Prouts for a 
whole week. And they had not begun to tire 
of them when — another set of magazines 
came ! Captain Prout happened to go to the 
village that day, and Tim Parks came running 
out to him from the post-office. 

“ More mail for the Misses and the Mas- 
ters Prout, Cap’n ! ” he called. “ I guess your 
children are goin’ to have ’em come reg’lar. 
Ain’t it wonderful who sends ’em ? ” 

What a shriek of joy went up from the 
little Prouts when they saw what Father 
brought them that night ! “ Now we shall 


142 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

know about the Princess ! ” cried Mary, and 
they could hardly wait for supper to be over 
before they continued the wonderful tale. 
This part was to be continued also ; but there 
was no such wail of anguish when the last 
word was read. 

“Oh, I ’s sorry it’s done,” sighed little 
Polly ; “ but I guess the rest will come next 
week. Don’t you?” 

And somehow, even Tommy was hopeful 
this time. “ Yes, I guess He has n’t forgotten 
us, quite,” he confessed to Mary before they 
went to bed. 

If only Kenneth and Rose could have seen 
what joy their story papers gave to the little 
Prouts ! Every week through all that bitter 
winter, in sun or in shine, through snow and 
sleet, as regularly as a Saturday came, one of 
the Prouts tramped four miles to the village 
for the precious magazines. And always the 
other little Prouts were waiting breathlessly 
for him to return, fearful lest this time the 
papers might not have come. They were 



WHAT A SHRIEK OF JOY WENT UP 





a-'Kl 








BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


H3 


always looking out of the window, a row of 
little heads, one above another. 

“ Did it come ? ” they would cry, making 
signs of eager question as soon as the mes- 
senger appeared in sight, and he would shout 
and wave the two wrappers over his head, 
whereat all the children would begin to jump 
up and down with joy. 

It would have been a dreadful thing if 
Kenneth or Rose had once forgotten to send 
the papers. But they never did, though they 
could not guess how much depended upon 
their remembering that simple little promise 
which they had made. 

No, Kenneth and Rose could not possibly 
know what the sharing of that single one of 
their pleasures meant to the little Fronts, and 
to all the other island children besides, — for 
in the end the whole island saw the maga- 
zines. They were passed on from family to 
family all that winter, and were literally worn 
to rags by the thumbing of many little fin- 
gers, and big ones, too. 


144 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


The Prouts were learning a great deal about 
many things, nowadays. It was almost as good 
as going to school. All that winter they lived 
in a new world of constant change. The little 
cottage was no longer dreary or lonely. Their 
stupid tasks were no longer tiresome, for they 
had the beloved magazines to read when all 
was done. They had the children of those 
stories for their companions and friends, and 
they began to understand, ever so dimly, that 
all the children of the world are little broth- 
ers and sisters to one another. 


CHAPTER XIV 


TOMMY’S LETTER 

O NE day they were talking about it, all 
together. 

“ God is our Father, as the preacher said,” 
declared Mary, “ I read it to-day in the 
magazine, don’t you remember ? ” 

“Yes,” agreed Tommy, “it must be He 
who sends the papers to us, for nobody else 
knows about us. But He knows everything, 
— the preacher said so.” 

“ I wish we could thank Him,” said little 
Polly. “ He has been so good not to forget 
us.” 

“I am going to write to Him,” said Tommy 
suddenly ; “there is a Letter-Box in the paper, 
and boys and girls write to it every week. I 
am going to write and tell the Lord how we 
thank Him.” 

And forthwith Tommy sat down and wrote 


146 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


to the magazine a letter something like those 
which he read every week in the Letter-Box, 
— yet different. An island letter would have 
to be different. This is what Tommy wrote; 

Lucky Island, Maine. 

Dear Magazine, — You kum evry weak, 
an i dono ow we got long witout You. The 
aint nobody in the Sity to tel You how to get 
to This jumpin-of plais, so we no that Our 
Father must send You evry weak. An we 
wanter Thanx him but we dono ow. Flees 
put this Leter in the Leterbox sos he wil see. 
He dont kum here in Wintr its so lonsum I 
gess he wood be glad if he knu ow hapy he 
made 6 litl chilren way down in Maine. I 
hop he will send it evr an evr we havnt no- 
thin els to red. 

Yours truly, ^ 

Tommy Prout: 

The editor of the magazine did not often 
print a letter spelled as badly as this one of 
poor Tommy Prout, who was eight years old. 


TOMMY’S LETTER 


147 

but who only went to school in the spring 
and fall. But when the editor read that letter 
he blew his nose and wiped his glasses and 
said : — 

“Yes, I ’ll print your letter just as it is. 
Tommy Prout, and I think it will please Him 
whom you wish to thank, even if some one 
else mails the paper for Him every week.” 

So that is why, some days later, when Ken- 
neth Thornton was carelessly cutting the leaves 
of his new magazine, he suddenly gave a sur- 
prised whistle. The name of his beloved 
summer island had caught his eye, at the head 
of a letter in the Letter-Box. 

“ Oh, Mamma,” he cried, “ see, here is a 
letter from our island. And it is signed, 
‘Tommy Prout.’ But I can’t make out the 
funny spelling.” 

Then Kenneth’s mamma read the letter 
aloud, and it did not sound so queer as it 
looked. When she had finished there were 
tears in her eyes and in Rose’s, too. And 
Kenneth was winking queerly. 


148 


BROTHERS AND SISTERS 


“ The dear little fellow ! ” said Mamma. 
“Just think what it means to them to have 
those papers that you don’t care for. O chil- 
dren, our Father surely did put it into your 
heads to send the magazines; so Tommy is 
right.” 

“And we will send them ‘ ever and ever,’ 
as Tommy hopes, won’t we, Kenneth ? ” cried 
Rose eagerly. 

“ Course we will,” said Kenneth promptly. 

“ I ’d like to write a letter to the little girl 
Fronts,” mused Rose. “ It must be awfully 
lonesome on the island in winter.” 

“We must wait till next summer. Rose 
dear,” said her mamma. “We have been bad 
neighbors to those little children, and we 
must get acquainted with them first. The 
little Fronts do not know us, and it is our 
fault. But another summer we will know 
them. And then we will plan what we can 
do to make their winters less lonely. Foor 
babies ! ” 

“ I ’d like to send them a Christmas box,” 


TOMMY’S LETTER 


149 


said Kenneth, who had been thinking all this 
time. “ I ’ll send the boys a lot of books and 
candy and things.” 

“And I ’ll send some to the girls,” cried 
Rose, clapping her hands. “ Oh ! That will 
be fine, — and a doll for each one.” 

“ That is a good plan,” said Mrs. Thorn- 
ton. “We will certainly do it. How selfish 
we have been to care for our beautiful island 
only while we were there, and to forget our 
neighbors who live there all the year through ! 
Just think, Kenneth and Rose, those children 
believe that our Father does n’t come there 
in winter. We must change that, and show 
them that He is watching all His children all 
the time.” 

Kenneth and Rose had a beautiful time 
making ready that Christmas box. Into it 
they put all the things that they had first 
thought of, and a great many beside. And 
they sent it so that it reached the island on 
Christmas eve. Tim Parks brought it over 
to the Prouts the next morning. 


150 BROTHERS AND SISTERS 

“ I guess your friend who sends you the 
magazines has sent you something fine for 
Christmas,” he grinned, as he carried the 
heavy box into the room where the six little 
Prouts stood gaping with wonder. “ ‘ The 
Misses and the Masters Prout ! ’ ” he cried, 
reading the label. 

Mary squeezed Tommy’s hand and whis- 
pered something as they all crowded around 
while the box was being opened. And Tommy 
nodded wisely. 

On the top of the box, inside, was a card 
which read ; “ Merry Christmas to the little 
Prouts, from a brother and a sister who read 
Tommy’s letter in the Letter-Box. The kind 
Father watches over us all alike, on islands 
and in the big cities, and He bids us love 
one another, especially on His birthday.” 

A brother and a sister in the city ! That 
news was almost more welcome than the box 
itself. If Kenneth and Rose could have seen 
those six little Prouts and have heard their 
squeals of joy when the box was unpacked. 


TOMMY’S LETTER 15 1 

they would have been glad indeed that they 
had remembered to be brotherly and sisterly. 

The magazines which kept coming “ ever 
and ever” and the books that were in that 
Christmas box were the beginning of the 
Island Public Library, of which every one is 
now so proud, and of many other good things 
which happened to the island and especially 
to the little Prouts. 

For in summers after that they grew to 
know and to love their neighbors, the city 
children. Kenneth and Rose have been a 
good brother and sister to the little Prouts 
ever since ; and it is as good a fortune for 
Kenneth and Rose as it is for the little Prouts. 


ElectrotyPed and printed by H . O. Houghton Co. 

Cambridge i Mass., U, S. A. 

















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